Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41995478›Full record

Trial reportAlimentary pharmacology & therapeutics2026

The Emerging Short Chain Fatty Acid Enriched Metabotype in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Its Potential Clinical Relevance.

T E Conley, A Duncan, A Modasia, A C Ford, D M Pritchard, F Hildebrand, F J Warren, R Spiller, C S Probert

Abstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

T E ConleyInstitute of Systems Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0604-0770
A DuncanQuadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK.
A ModasiaQuadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3563-4874
A C FordLeeds Gastroenterology Institute, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK.
D M PritchardInstitute of Systems Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
F HildebrandQuadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK.
F J WarrenQuadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK.
R SpillerNottingham Digestive Diseases Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6371-4500
C S ProbertInstitute of Systems Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMetabolomic analysis in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has identified metabotypes enriched in faecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), but it remains unclear whether this reflects rapid colonic transit or if these metabolites actively contribute to pathophysiology.

aimsWe aimed to determine whether an SCFA metabotype could be identified within a cohort of patients with moderate-severe IBS-D and assess whether this metabotype associated with greater clinical severity, alterations in gut transit time and specific microbiome features.

methodsThis was a post hoc cross-sectional exploratory analysis of baseline data from the multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of ondansetron in IBS-D (TRITON: ISRCTN17508514). Faecal volatile organic compounds were profiled by GC-MS. The microbiome was characterised by whole-genome shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering was used to identify an SCFA-enriched metabotype and non-negative matrix factorisation (NMF) enabled the derivation of complementary metabosignatures by assessing continuous gradients in metabolite composition.

resultsA SCFA-enriched metabotype was identified in 20/63 participants (31.7%). This metabotype was associated with more severe abdominal pain, urgency, increased stool frequency and faster whole-gut transit. NMF identified three metabosignatures: S3 was typified by a high proportion of SCFAs and captured the SCFA-enriched metabotype, while S1 and S2 corresponded to the non-SCFA ("Other") metabotype. SCFA relative abundance positively correlated with symptom severity and inversely correlated with transit time. The Other metabotype and S1/S2 signatures were enriched in taxa linked to slower transit, whereas S3 showed no overlapping taxa with the SCFA metabotype.

conclusionA faecal metabotype enriched in SCFAs associated with an IBS-D phenotype characterised by pain, urgency, rapid transit and higher stool frequency.

Indexed as

Fatty Acids, VolatileFecesIrritable Bowel SyndromeAdultCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleGastrointestinal MicrobiomeGastrointestinal TransitHumansMaleMetabolomicsMiddle AgedSeverity of Illness IndexFatty Acids, Volatileirritable bowel syndromemetabolomemetabotypevolatile organic compounds

Identifiers

PMID41995478
PMCPMC13309217

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.