PPARGC1A and Insulin resistance: Studies in C57BL/6 mice have shown that a sodium butyrate injection of 5% wt/wt in addition to a high fat diet (58% calories from fat) prevented insulin resistance by stimulating thermogenesis and fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue mitochondria in part due to increased PGC-1α gene expression and protein activity (Gao et al., 2009).