Colonic fermentation: metabolic and clinical implications

Colonic SCFA formation from fermentable carbohydrate is important for the maintenance of morphologic and functional integrity of the colonic epithelium. Carbohydrate-induced diarrhea occurs when the amount of carbohydrate entering the colon exceeds its fermentation capacity. Deficient availability or utilization of SCFA, mainly of n-butyrate, is the cause of diversion colitis and may play important roles in colonic carcinogenesis, in starvation and enterotoxigenic diarrhea, and in idiopathic UC.