Ketogenic Diet High in Saturated Fat Promotes Colonic Claudin Expression without Changes in Intestinal Permeability to Iohexol in Healthy Mice.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Animal research (male C57BL/6J mice)
PubMed 38201850 · doi:10.3390/nu16010018
What was done
Male C57BL/6J mice were fed for four weeks with a ketogenic diet high in either saturated fatty acids (SFA-KD) or polyunsaturated linoleic acid (LA-KD). Researchers evaluated intestinal paracellular permeability to iohexol at days 2 and 26, jejunal and colonic tight junction protein expression (claudin-1 and -4), histology, inflammatory markers (Il1b, Il6, Tnf, and Lcn2), intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) expression and activity, and plasma lipopolysaccharide.
What was found
Neither ketogenic diet altered intestinal permeability to iohexol at day 2 or day 26. SFA-KD selectively upregulated colonic claudin-1 and claudin-4 expression and increased IAP activity, while LA-KD did not. Both diets increased jejunal epithelial vacuolation, with greater severity in SFA-KD. Compared to SFA-KD, LA-KD showed lower jejunal Il1b expression and higher colonic Il6 expression; LA-KD also elevated colonic Tnf mRNA relative to controls. Specific numeric values were not reported in the abstract.
Why it matters
This study shows that different dietary fat sources in ketogenic diets differentially modulate gut tight junction proteins and tissue-specific inflammatory markers without compromising baseline intestinal permeability in healthy animals.
Limits
The findings are restricted to an animal model (healthy male mice) and cannot be directly extrapolated to human physiology or clinical gastrointestinal disorders. The abstract does not report the total sample size (n) or exact numerical values with variance.
Cited by
- context Consuming isolated saturated fat without a fiber matrix, such as plain butter, increases gut permeability.