Butyrate production from dietary fibre and protection against large bowel cancer in a rat model.
Open Access
- 1 March 1993
- Vol. 34 (3), 386-391
- https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.34.3.386
Abstract
Butyrate slows the growth of cancer cells cultured in vitro. To determine the relevance of the fermentative production of butyrate in vivo, colonic butyrate concentrations were manipulated by feeding different dietary fibres and were related to tumour development in the rat dimethylhydrazine model of large bowel cancer. It has previously been shown that guar gum and oat bran, while highly fermentable, are associated with low butyrate levels in the distal colon, while wheat bran causes significantly higher concentrations. Diets containing these fibres (nominally 10% w:w) were administered for 3 weeks before, for 10 weeks during, and for 20 weeks after dimethylhydrazine administration, after which animals were killed and examined for tumours. Significantly fewer tumours were seen in the rats fed wheat bran compared with those fed guar or oat bran, and the total tumour mass was lowest in rats fed wheat bran. Rats on a 'no added fibre diet' had an intermediate tumour mass. Regression analysis, performed regardless of dietary group, showed that the concentration in stools of butyrate but not of acetate or stool volume, correlated significantly (and negatively) with tumour mass. These findings indicate that fibre which is associated with high butyrate concentrations in the distal large bowel is protective against large bowel cancer, while soluble fibres that do not raise distal butyrate concentrations, are not protective. Thus, butyrate production in vivo does bear a significant relationship to suppression of tumour formation.Keywords
This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dietary butyrate (tributyrin) does not enhance AOM-induced colon tumorigenesisCancer Letters, 1990
- Effect of human faecal inoculum on in vitro fermentation variablesBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1987
- Relationship between Dietary Fiber and Cancer: Metabolic, Physiologic, and Cellular MechanismsExperimental Biology and Medicine, 1986
- Effects of short chain fatty acids on a new human colon carcinoma cell line (LIM1215).Gut, 1986
- Constipation, dietary fibre and the control of large bowel functionPublished by Oxford University Press (OUP) ,1984
- Effects of dietary oat bran and diabetes on plasma and caecal volatile fatty acids in the ratNutrition Research, 1983
- Fermentation of dietary fibre components in the rat intestinal tractBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1982
- Short chain fatty acids in the human colon.Gut, 1981
- Sodium butyrate inhibits histone deacetylation in cultured cellsCell, 1978
- A simple quantitative method to determine short chain fatty acid levels in biological fluidsClinica Chimica Acta; International Journal of Clinical Chemistry, 1976