What is propionate and what does it do for your health?

We talk a lot about short-chain fatty acids (SCFA). SCFA are metabolites that our bodies receive when our gut microbes ferment certain foods. The main SCFA are acetate, propionate, and butyrate. You can read about butyrate here. But today we are focusing on propionate. What is propionate and what does it do for your health?

What is propionate

What is propionate?

As we stated before, propionate is a short-chain fatty acid. SCFA are signaling molecules that are released from the foods we eat. They are not easily accessible like some other molecules.

They’re accessed when the microbes within the gut ferment and begin breaking down larger food molecules like carbohydrates. As they’re broken down SCFA are released into the bloodstream and used to repair cells and improve health.

Propionate is 90-95% produced from our guts. The remainder we get from our diet and from our oral microbiome. Propionate is found in many different forms but the one we will be talking about is the metabolite propionate.

Propionate is used as a food preservative and we will talk about how that affects our health later on in this article.

Propionate isn’t as frequently studied as butyrate, but it does offer plenty of health benefits.

Why is propionate beneficial?

Propionate is a helpful metabolite within our bodies. One of the major ways propionate helps our bodies is through its ability to suppress the appetite and help reduce excess body weight.

A study found that when propionate is delivered to the colon (most times it doesn’t make it that far because it is absorbed in the small intestine) it is able to stimulate the release of peptide YY (PYY) and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1).

By stimulating these releases, propionate was able to effectively reduce not only appetite but also weight gain and abdominal fat while preventing the deterioration of insulin sensitivity.

Another study found that while propionate is able to improve the function of the immune system and its cells it is also able to improve cardiovascular health. By boosting interleukin-10 (IL-10), propionate prevents the intestines from absorbing cholesterol. This thereby reduced LDL levels and the potential of atherosclerosis.

Yet another study found that propionate is able to reduce arthritic inflammation and pain. Both systemic and local applications of propionate helped to reduce inflammation by suppressing synovial fibroblasts.

In animal studies, it was found that propionate is able to help to regenerate and repair damaged nerves. Normally nerve axons have difficulty regenerating and repairing themselves after sustaining an injury. However, when propionate was administered, the animals experienced much quicker recovery time than their counterparts who did not receive propionate.

When propionate levels are too low some diseases have been noted. Lowered levels of propionate have been associated with:

Propionate has many benefits to our health. However, it shouldn’t be taken just to receive these effects. Too high levels of propionate can become problematic.

Problems with Propionate

Just like anything else, too much of a good thing can be bad.

One of the main problems with heightened levels of propionate is the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Excessive levels of propionate inhibit the urea cycle. When the urea cycle is unable to complete, it can lead to hyperammonemia — excessive ammonia in the blood.

Chronic hyperammonemia could lead to neurotoxicity and therefore dementia.

Another theory with this is that most studies on propionate focus on subjects who are overweight, obese, and/or prediabetic. When tested in lean subjects, instead of promoting insulin sensitivity, propionate actually leads to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. This insulin resistance can then lead to Alzheimer’s disease.

While all of this is still in the research phases, it is good to know that supplementing propionate should not be done without consultation with your primary care physician.

Propionate is known to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier as a mechanism of the gut-brain axis. With this being the case, propionate can easily modulate brain health — positively or negatively depending on the person and their individual health situation.

Also, depending on the way propionate is being used can affect the health-related outcomes of propionate.

Different forms of propionate

Earlier we mentioned that propionate is used as a food preservative. Everyone knows that we are supposed to avoid preservatives and chemicals in our foods. But there were positive effects of having propionate right?

The positive vs. negative effects of propionate come down to how we are getting it into our system. Our gut microbes ferment carbs and other large food molecules. When they do this they naturally release SCFA — propionate being one of them. This is the 90-95% of propionate we were talking about earlier.

When it is used as a preservative, our body uses propionate differently which may be what is causing the heightened levels that are leading to Alzheimer’s disease. Heightened levels of propionate in saliva were also linked to oral pathologies. A study at Harvard found a link between propionate as a preservative and the rise in diabetes and obesity.

If we are not getting propionate from foods that our gut is fermenting — like fruits, vegetables, fiber, and whole grains — then this might be where the problematic forms of propionate are coming from.

Until more research is done, we cannot confirm or deny how propionate affects the foods that it is preserving when used as a preservative. But we are able to link different forms of it to disease.

You won’t be testing your propionate levels at your doctor, but if you focus on eating whole foods that are not preserved, you can be sure that you are getting the healthiest forms of propionate among other SCFA and metabolites.

Eating a diet that is low in preservatives, unhealthy fats, added sugars and sodium and that is rich in organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and free-range protein is the best way to get the healthy versions of propionate and avoid the unhealthy ones.

When all of the simple options seem to be unhealthy, it can feel like a lot to try and eat healthfully. But if you focus on getting into those healthier food groups, you can be sure that you’re treating your body to the best options for you and your longevity.

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