Intestinal fermentation in patients with self-reported food hypersensitivity: painful, but protective?

Figures & data

Figure 1 SCFA distribution in fecal samples from patients classified as moderate cases (n = 19) and patients classified as severe cases (n = 16). Individual SCFA are shown as mean percentages of total SCFA concentration. Note, the proportion of n-butyric acid is higher in severe cases versus moderate cases (P = 0.016). Minor SCFAs = sum of percentages of i-butyric, i-valeric, n-valeric, i-caproic, and n-caproic acids.

Table 1 Fecal SCFAs in patients with self-reported food hypersensitivity and healthy controls

SCFA concentration (mmol/kg wet weight)	Patients (n = 35)	Controls (n = 15)	Pvalue
Acetic acid	86.84 ± 59.08	107.30 ± 53.46	0.25
% of total SCFA concentration	69.37 ± 9.21	76.91 ± 9.56	0.01*
Propionic acid	11.53 ± 6.44	9.71 ± 3.28	0.31
% of total SCFA concentration	10.37 ± 3.52	8.46 ± 3.70	0.09
i-butyric acid	1.80 ± 0.82	1.47 ± 0.47	0.15
% of total SCFA concentration	1.89 ± 0.94	1.38 ± 0.67	0.06
n-butyric acid	14.91 ± 9.32	11.32 ± 5.58	0.17
% of total SCFA concentration	13.12 ± 5.76	9.47 ± 4.60	0.04*
i-valeric acid	2.43 ± 1.20	2.03 ± 0.71	0.23
% of total SCFA concentration	2.71 ± 1.54	2.05 ± 1.22	0.15
n-valeric acid	1.77 ± 1.01	1.45 ± 0.45	0.25
% of total SCFA concentration	1.80 ± 0.94	1.34 ± 0.76	0.10
i-caproic acid	0.03 ± 0.06	0.02 ± 0.03	0.27
% of total SCFA concentration	0.03 ± 0.05	0.01 ± 0.03	0.27
n-caproic acid	0.70 ± 0.92	0.42 ± 0.53	0.31
% of total SCFA concentration	0.70 ± 0.81	0.38 ± 0.53	0.16
Total SCFA	120.00 ± 67.40	133.80 ± 56.48	0.49
SCFA excretion (mmol/72 h)	Patients (n = 35)	Controls (n = 13)	Pvalue
Acetic acid	39.07 ± 35.33	48.08 ± 47.19	0.48
Propionic acid	5.31 ± 4.70	4.40 ± 3.44	0.53
i-butyric acid	0.76 ± 0.53	0.57 ± 0.32	0.25
n-butyric acid	6.72 ± 5.71	5.61 ± 5.35	0.55
i-valeric acid	1.00 ± 0.67	0.77 ± 0.31	0.23
n-valeric acid	0.76 ± 0.64	0.61 ± 0.36	0.44
i-caproic acid	0.02 ± 0.03	0.01 ± 0.01	0.27
n-caproic acid	0.29 ± 0.46	0.17 ± 0.19	0.37
Total SCFA	53.92 ± 44.23	60.23 ± 55.15	0.68

Notes: Data are presented as mean ± SD.

* Denotes statistically significant differences between patients and controls.