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. 2022 Jul 20;23(10):e13498. doi: 10.1111/obr.13498

TABLE 1.

The effect of intervention strategies aimed at increasing microbial butyrate production on weight and glucose metabolic status

Participants Intervention Design, duration, and frequency Metabolic effects Study
Males with metabolic syndrome (n = 18) Allogenic FMT (from lean male donors; n = 9) or autologous FMT (reinfusion of own feces; n = 9)

RCT

Outcomes measured after 6 weeks

Single dose

  1. ↑ Butyrate‐producing strains in gut microbiome

  2. ↓ All fecal SCFA concentrations including butyrate

  3. ↑ Peripheral insulin sensitivity and tendency to ↑ hepatic insulin sensitivity compared with baseline but not placebo

 Vrieze et al. (2012) 284
Males with metabolic syndrome (n = 24) A. soehngenii administration with low (106 cells/ml, n = 8), medium (108 cells/ml, n = 8), high dose (1010 cells/ml, n = 8)

Randomized trial

4 weeks

1x/day

  1. ↑ Fecal butyrate‐producing A.soehngenii with greatest effect in highest dose

  2. No differences in fecal SCFA levels

  3. No significant difference in peripheral insulin sensitivity between groups

 Gilijamse et al. (2020) 285
Individuals with T2DM (n = 58) WBF‐010 (consisting of inulin, C. beijerinckii, C. butyricum, B. infantis; n = 21) or WBF‐011 (consisting of inulin, A. muciniphila, C. beijerinckii, C. butyricum, B. infantis and A. hallii; n = 21) or only colloidal silicon dioxide (placebo; n = 16)

RCT

12 weeks

Dose divided in 2x/day

  1. ↑ Butyrate‐producing A.halli more frequently detected in stool samples after 4 and 12 weeks of WBF‐011

  2. No significant changes in fecal SCFA but ↑fasting plasma butyrate

  3. ↑plasma butyrate associated with ↓HbA1c in participants who were not taking a sulfonylurea agent

  4. WBF‐011 significantly ↓ AUC and IAUC of total glucose concentration during a meal‐tolerance test

  5. WBF‐011 had a tendency to ↑ postprandial insulin secretion and↓HbA1c

  6. No changes in HOMA‐IR, fasting glucose, and body weight

 Perraudeau et al. (2020) 286 , 287
Individuals with T1DM (n = 18) 40 g of type 2 resistant starch consisting of a high‐amylose (70%) maize starch with acetate and butyrate attached to it

Single arm pilot study

6 weeks + follow‐up at week 12

1x/day

  1. ↑ Fecal and circulating butyrate and acetate after 6 weeks

  2. No alterations in HbA1c, insulin dosage, and mean daily average blood glucose

  3. Circulating butyrate at week 6 was negatively associated to HbA1c, % of time below target range (< 3.9 mmol/L), and basal insulin dose

 Bell et al. (2022) 288
Females with obesity (n = 30) 16 g of inulin‐type fructans prebiotics (a 50/50 mix of inulin/oligofructose; n = 15) or maltodextrin placebo (n = 15)

RCT

3 months

Dose divided in 2x/day

  1. ↑ Butyrate‐producing F. prausnitzii in gut microbiome

  2. ↓ AUC of total glucose concentration after oral glucose tolerance test

  3. No alterations HbA1c, HOMA, and fasting insulin

  4. No changes in BMI and hip‐waist‐ratio but slight tendency to ↓ fat mass

 Dewulf et al. (2012) 289
Healthy individuals (n = 35) 16 g of FOS (n = 34) or GOS (n = 35) prebiotics

Cross‐over randomized trial

14 days

Dose divided in 2x/day

  • 1

    ↓ Butyrate‐producing strains in gut microbiome

  • 2

    FOS significantly ↓ (46.1%) fecal butyrate and worsened postprandial glucose response

  • 3

    GOS had a tendency to ↓ (31.2%) fecal butyrate and significantly decreased fasting glucose levels

 Liu et al. (2017) 290

Abbreviations: AUC, area under the curve; BMI, body mass index; FMT, fecal microbial transplantation; FOS, fructo‐oligosaccharides; GOS, galacto‐oligosaccharides; HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; HOMA‐IR, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance; IAUC, incremental area under the curve; RCT, randomized controlled trial; SCFA, short chain fatty acids.