Table 1.

Effects of butyrate, dietary fiber, or microbial transplantation treatment on body weight, body composition, inflammation, satiety hormones and/or insulin sensitivity in human participants. Upward arrows (↑) indicate an increase and downward arrows (↓) indicate a decrease in respective measured outcomes.

Acute Study	Short Chain Fatty Acid(s) or Dietary Fiber Composition	Control Group	Route of Administration	Duration of Treatment	Findings in Treatment Group Relative to the Control Group	Findings in Treatment Group Relative to Themselves (Longitudinal)
Nilsson et al., (2008) [199]	White wheat flour bread supplemented with barley fiber or resistant starch cereal-based meals (50 g available starch)	Unsupplemented white wheat flour bread (50 g available starch)	Oral—dietary supplement	2 meals	↑ glucose tolerance following a meal, GLP-1 and satiety; ↓ serum free fatty acids in men and women
Vrieze et al., (2012) [204]	Microbial transplantation from lean donors	Microbial transplantation from own collected feces	Bowel lavage	Single intervention—measurements made 6 weeks after infusion		↑ peripheral insulin sensitivity; no effect on resting energy expenditure in obese males with metabolic syndrome
Chronic Study	Short Chain Fatty Acid(s) or Dietary Fiber Composition	Control Group	Route of Administration	Duration of Treatment	Findings in Treatment Group relative to the Control Group	Findings in Treatment Group Relative to Themselves (Longitudinal)
Dewulf et al., (2013) [205]	Oligofructose (16 g/day)	Dextrin maltose (16 g/day)	Oral—dietary supplement	2 weeks	↓ postprandial glucose AUC; ↑ PYY and GLP-1 in healthy men and women
Gower et al., (2016) [49]	Resistant starch (30 g/day)	Waxy Corn Starch matched based on digestible starch in treatment group	Oral—dietary supplement	4 weeks	↑ insulin sensitivity in insulin resistant women; no effect in insulin sensitive women
Parnell et al., (2009) [198]	Oligofructose (21 g/day)	Maltodextrin (21 g/day)	Oral—dietary supplement	12 weeks	↓ body weight, energy intake, fat mass and trunk fat, serum glucose and insulin and active ghrelin; ↑ PYY; no effect on GLP-1 in overweight/obese men and women
Pedersen et al., (2013) [206]	Oligofructose (15–55 g/day)	none	Oral—dietary supplement	5 weeks		↑ PYY and satiety; no effects on energy intake, glucose, insulin, or GLP-1 in men and women
Robertson et al., (2005) [48]	Resistant starch (30 g/day) + 20 g/day rapidly digestible starch	Rapidly digestible starch (Amioca; 20 g/day)	Oral—dietary supplement	4 weeks	↑ insulin sensitivity during meal tolerance test; ↑ glucose uptake by adipose tissue
Scheppach et al., (1997) [207]	Sodium butyrate enema (100 mmol/L) or SCFA mixture (butyrate = 40 mmol/L	isotonic saline	Rectal	8 weeks		↓ polymorphonuclear leukocytes in lamina propria; ↓ upper intestinal crypt proliferation in individuals with active distal ulcerative colitis
	acetate = 60 mmol/L		(twice daily)
	propionate = 30 mmol/L)
Vulevic et al., (2013) [208]	Galactooligosaccharide (5.5 g/day)	Maltodextrin (5.5 g/day)	Oral—dietary supplement	12 weeks	↓ fasting insulin, triglycerides, total cholesterol and C-reactive protein in overweight/obese men and women
Wolever et al., (2002) [209]	High fiber cereal (10–15% energy)	Low fiber cereal (10–15% energy)	Oral	6 months		No effect on body weight, serum triacylglycerols or total cholesterol; nonsignificant ↓ HDL cholesterol in type 2 diabetic men and women

GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide-1; PYY, peptide YY; HDL, high density lipoprotein.