By now, many people are aware of the benefits of probiotics and prebiotics — healthy bacteria and their food supply, respectively. However, have you heard about the postbiotic butyrate?
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Postbiotics, including butyrate, are the end products of microbial fermentation. Butyrate is one big reason why prebiotics and probiotics are so great for our health. What’s even better? Butyrate supplements can help you to take advantage of the benefits of postbiotics, maybe even faster than if you chose a prebiotic or probiotic.
In this guide, we’ll review what butyrate is, its benefits, and how to pick the best postbiotic or butyrate supplements.
Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) that’s produced in the large intestine as a result of bacterial fermentation. As the beneficial bacteria that reside in your gut digest their food — consisting of prebiotics and fibers — they produce butyrate and other SCFAs that can then be used by the body (*).
Many of the health benefits of prebiotic and probiotic supplements — and of a healthy, balanced gut microbiome — are thought to be because of the effects of butyrate and other SCFAs.
Butyrate and other SCFAs are available in supplemental form as “postbiotics.” Additionally, there are some combination prebiotic-probiotic-postbiotic supplements available called “synbiotics.”
Butyrate supplements are available in a few different forms, including:
Although sodium butyrate is the most common type, it may not be the easiest for your body to absorb. Although more research is needed to fully understand the best form of butyrate, many research studies have shown positive results from tributyrin supplementation (*).
Additionally, the ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) contains a butyrate component. However, it doesn’t behave exactly like butyrate does. Still, researchers have found that using supplemental BHB and butyrate together may have a synergistic effect — making each supplement more effective than it would be otherwise (*).
Butyrate is a product of microbial fermentation.
When the bacteria in your large intestine break down fiber (which is indigestible to you, but easily digestible by gut bacteria), they create and release butyrate and other SCFAs.
These SCFAs can then be used by other cells in the body.
Butyrate has many roles in the body. Once it’s produced by the gut bacteria, it can be used by colonocytes (cells in the large intestine) for energy (*).
However, it has a number of secondary roles and benefits too — including reduced inflammation, improved gut health, optimized brain function, weight and blood glucose management, and more.
Poor gut health and an imbalanced gut microbiome may affect the capacity of your gut bacteria to produce butyrate.
Researchers have found that people with a condition called myalgic encephalopathy, or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), have low levels of butyrate-producing bacteria (*).
Some other potential symptoms of gut microbiota imbalances may include (*):
There are numerous potential health benefits of butyrate supplementation and of balancing the gut microbiome to encourage the production of butyrate and other SCFAs. These include:
Most foods are not naturally high in butyrate. However, fiber-rich and fermented foods may help to encourage the microbial fermentation that produces butyrate in your large intestine. These foods include:
Certain foods are high in resistant starch, a unique type of prebiotic fiber that may help support increased butyrate production. These foods include cooked and cooled rice, cooked and cooled potatoes, oats (particularly if they are soaked, such as overnight oats), plantains, and green bananas (*).
Butyrate supplements are widely available. You can purchase standalone butyrate or butyric acid supplements, such as the different types we listed above, or you can purchase a postbiotic or synbiotic. Most postbiotic and synbiotic supplements contain butyrate in some form.
It may be a good idea to take these supplements if you suspect you have poor gut health, if you’re experiencing any symptoms of gut microbiota imbalance, or if your healthcare provider recommends gut health supplements.
You may also consider taking butyrate supplements if you don’t eat many fiber-rich or fermented foods.
Currently, the recommended dosage of butyrate in supplemental form is 150-300 milligrams per day (*).
However, research suggests that this recommendation may be too low for certain conditions. If you have any concerns about the ideal butyrate dosage for your needs, be sure to speak with your healthcare provider (*).
Like any dietary supplement, there is a potential for side effects from taking butyrate.
In one study on butyrate on obesity in children, researchers noted that some participants experienced mild nausea and headache. However, it’s important to note that — of 54 participants in the study — only two reported these side effects (*).
Additionally, researchers have noted that an overdose of butyrate in rats caused an immediate and dangerous drop in body temperature (*).
Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid produced in the large intestine by healthy gut bacteria as they digest prebiotic fiber. It has a number of potential health benefits, including better digestive health, improved weight management and metabolic health, and better brain function.
Butyrate is also available as a supplement, either as a standalone butyrate or butyric acid supplement or in a postbiotic or synbiotic supplement blend.
You can also naturally improve the microbial balance in your gut and promote healthy SCFA production by eating a fiber-rich diet and including probiotics or fermented foods in your normal routine.
Interested in the benefits of beta-hydroxybutyrate and butyrate in combination? Be sure to check out our line-up of BHB-infused products — including BHB capsules and our Base ketone drink mix — to help you thrive in ketosis.
Are you looking for an all-natural supplement to provide relief from symptoms such as gas, bloating and abdominal discomfort? Well your not alone, with gut issues affecting more and more people many are trying various probiotics, prebiotics and “gut formulas”. Butyrate supplements are one of the lesser known gut health supplements that is fast becoming a more popular choice. Find out why Butyrate (sometimes known as Butyric Acid) is fast becoming the ‘go to’ supplement for Australians seeking a healthy gut and where to buy the best Butyrate supplements in Australia.
Butyrate is an essential short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) along with acetate, propionate & valerate which is produced naturally by intestinal bacteria in the large intestine. Butyrate is often used synonymously with sodium butyrate, butyric acid & butanoic acid. Butyrate is found in certain foods such as full-fat dairy. A little bit of trivia… The name Butyrate is actually derived from butter in Greek. Comparative to direct food sources the majority of butyrate comes from the fermentation process by specific gut bacteria when they break down dietary fiber such as non-digestible carbohydrates and in the process produce short chain fatty acids including butyrate. Whilst there are many bacteria in the gut that produce butyrate, some of the common and potent butyrate-producing bacteria are faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Roseburia spp., and Eubacterium rectale.
Within the gut, butyrate has many health benefits. It helps regulate a healthy immune system, keep inflammation at bay, assist with the replication of new cells that make up the gut lining, maintain the intestinal barrier & possibly most importantly Butyrate functions as a primary source of energy for the intestinal epithelial cells. All these key features of butyrate helps to maintain healthy gut flora in the large intestine and promote optimal digestive health.
Outside of the gut butyrate has been shown to have positive effects on sleep, diabetes & in animal studies a host of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease & Alzheimers are showing some promising results. I suspect very shortly we are going to see more human studies carried out looking at butyrate's potential role in the management of these diseases.
One the most studied effects of butyrate is the anti-inflammatory effects it has in the gut. Studies have shown butyrate inhibits the expression of certain inflammatory mediators such as iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-6, whilst promoting the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Butyrate has also been shown to activate anti-inflammatory cells such as Tregs and M2 macrophages. Butyrate influences gut macrophage differentiation to produce non-inflammatory anti-microbial macrophages. In a study where by researchers supplemented mice with butyrate they found that the macrophages in these mice had significantly enhanced anti-microbial activity
Butyrate also has antioxidant properties which is seen by it's ability to increase the activity of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase-2, catalase & glutathione which further contributes to it's anti-inflammatory effect in the gut & how it is involved with mopping up free radicals.
A feature of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and what distinguishes it from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is the presence of significant inflammation levels in the gut. Studies have shown that in patients with inflammatory bowel disease typically what is observed with the gut microbiome is decreased levels of SCFAs-producing bacteria in particular butyrate.
Other studies have also identified in children with IBD decreased SCFA levels in feces is a common finding comparative to healthy individuals.
In IBS it's not quite so straightforward. Whilst overall fecal SCFAs were decreased in individuals with constipation-dominant IBS compared to healthy controls, the reverse was seen with diarrhea-dominant IBS, whereby they were shown to have higher levels.
One of the more critical roles butyrate has is it's ability to modulate our immune system via interacting with several different immune system receptors. Butyrate has been shown to promote the differentiation of important Treg immune cells, activate B lymphocytes & regulation of neutrophils.
Several studies have been done investigating the gut microbiome and it's relevance to COVID-19. For a run down on the studies and what has been shown so far check out the blog post COVID-19 : Where does the Gut Microbiome fit in?
What seems to be a common theme with the recent studies to date, the gut microbiome in people with more significant and severe symptoms of COVID-19 have dysbiosis as evidenced by increased abundance of opportunistic and pathogenic bacteria such as Enterococcus and Eneterobacteriacea coupled with a decrease of butyrate-producing bacteria such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii compared to patients with only mild symptoms. Furthermore a reduction in butyrate producing bacteria was associated with increased levels of C Reactive Protein indicating increased inflammation.
A recent study published in found the abundance of SCFA producing bacteria was markedly reduced in symptomatic COVID-19 patients relative to healthy individuals as well as asymptomatic positive COVID-19 individuals.
It has also be shown that these alterations of decreased abundance of butyrate-producing bacterial in the gut microbiome of COVID-19 individuals persist beyond 30 days after recovery from COVID-19 and positively correlated with disease severity.
Given these consistent findings relating the gut microbiome & COVID-19 from the studies done certain researchers have concluded:
we hypothesize that butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid initially produced by the gut microbiota, could be administered as supportive therapy to prevent immune system activation and disease progression.
In years gone by if someone were to say that our gut bacteria released certain chemicals & substances that impacted our sleep you'd probably think they were crazy. Turns out that bacteria do release a sleep inducing substance called Factor S & has been shown to build up in our brain when we are sleep deprived. Whilst many gaps in the research still need to be filled regarding the gut microbiome and its relationship with sleep we do know from the current studies that gut bacteria are a source of sleep-inducing signals.
In a recent study looking at the gut microbiome of patients with insomnia and comparing it to healthy controls found distinct differences in the gut microbiota in individuals with insomnia.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website butyric acid benefits.
In this study, we observed a remarkable change in the composition of gut microbiota in patients with insomnia disorder compared with healthy controls.
Researchers have turned to short-chain fatty acids in particular butyrate to see if some of the sleep changes seen in previous studies could be due to bacterial production of butyrate. One particular study using mice the researchers mimicked the production of butyrate in the gut by orally administering tributyrin. They found a 50% increase in non-rapid-eye movement sleep (NREMS) in mice for 4 hours after the treatment, supporting their hypothesis that butyrate may serve as a sleep inducing and enhancing signaling molecule.
In another study, researches wanted to see the effect of a butyrate supplement on cognitive impairment associated with induced sleep deprivation. They gave sleep deprived mice butyrate and found it restored healthy inflammatory responses and memory impairment.
Now that we have covered what butyrate is & its importance to our health let's take a closer look at how we can test for butyrate levels in the gut, how to improve our butyrate levels. Which prebiotics and what foods produce butyrate in the gut. The evidence for butyrate supplements & how to choose the best Butyrate & Butyric acid supplements.
Human cells don't produce significant amounts of butyrate and as such we are reliant on butyrate from foods such as full-fat dairy products being one of the food groups containing the most butyrate. Aside from full fat dairy there aren't any other foods that would be considered significant contributors to exogenous butyrate. Comparatively to the butyrate production from the good gut bacteria, food sources of butyrate don't stack up nearly as well. You'd have to eat considerably more butter than what would be considered healthy so not something we can solely rely on to increase butyrate levels in the gut. Therefore humans are reliant upon endogenous production within the gut for the most part.
Before we move onto ways to increase butyrate levels in the gut you may be asking yourself, or I would hope that you would be at least wondering if you have low butyrate levels. Since we now have an appreciation for the importance of healthy butyrate levels in the gut, what is the best way of knowing what your butyrate level actually is? Fecal testing is a relatively straight forward way of testing for SCFAs and Butyrate levels in the gut. It is often part of a comprehensive GI microbiome mapping test such as the Complete Microbiome Mapping Stool Test in Australia. This is by far the most utilised gut testing I do with my patients and provides a comprehensive analysis of the microbiome, butyrate levels, inflammation in the gut + a few more key gut health markers. A word of caution however whilst stool testing gives us a butyrate level in the fecal sample it isn’t necessarily an accurate representation of the luminal concentration which is what is important, so personally I tend to let the clinical case and gut microbiota profile guide me in determining if we are going to supplement with butyrate.
Butyrate supplements can provide several advantages to those looking to improve their digestion and overall gut health. Butyrate supplementation helps support the lining of your digestive tract by maintaining intestinal pH balance, increasing energy levels, promoting healthy bacteria growth in your microbiota and aiding in nutrient absorption. Additionally, butyrate has been known to support immunity, healthy digestion and metabolism, reduce inflammation, and promote better sleep quality.
Research into the use of Butyrate as a supplement has shown promising outcomes across a range of health conditions. In one particular study, 66 participants with medically diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome were given a microencapsulated sodium butyrate supplement or placebo for 4 weeks. Pain associated with bowel movements were significantly less in the individuals who were supplementing with butyrate. There was also improvements with bowel habits and urgency in the butyrate supplement group, with the authors concluding:
It [butyrate supplement] significantly decreases the frequency of clinical symptoms including spontaneous abdominal pain, postprandial abdominal pain, abdominal pain during defecation, stool consistency and constipation.
A small clinical study of 13 patients with Crohn's Disease, which is a form of Irritable Bowel Disease investigated the effect of 4 g/day of a butyrate supplement as enteric-coated tablets for 8 weeks. 69% of patients responded favourably to the butyrate supplement and 53% achieved remission.
As for Butyrate dosage, it’s not uncommon to see dosages in the vicinity of 3-4grams used in clinical research studies & thus dosages in that ballpark are often recommended on labels of butyrate supplements.
When choosing a Butyrate supplement, it is important to make sure that you select one that is of the highest quality and potency in order to achieve the health benefits. Look for supplements that are free from artificial ingredients, as this ensures maximum efficacy.
Tesseract ProButyrate is a brilliant butyrate supplement offering a good therapeutic dosage as well as pioneering the field of natural supplements with their advanced absorption & delivery technology. ProButyrate® is a Butyrate supplement using the purest possible Butanoic acid, unlike other Butyric supplements that use Butyric salt. Tesseract utilises an advanced delivery system that encapsulates its supplements so that the ingredients can weather exposure to stomach acids, preventing loss of bioavailability as the result of digestion. ProButyrate is specifically designed to deliver butyrate to the colon (without the issue of dissolution in the oral cavity), making it more effective than traditional butyrate salts. It also requires a significantly lower dose to achieve therapeutic effects - only 600- mg/day compared to the traditional 3-4 g/day required with most butyrate salt formulations.
From my own clinical experience using Butyrate supplements with patients I have noticed Tesseract ProButyrate® consistently produces the most positive outcomes & a very good track record for improving constipation.
BodyBio Calcium/Magnesium Butyrate is another one that I use a lot of in clinical practice & also consistent results have been observed. BodyBio offers a good clean therapeutic dosage & reputable company that specialise in advanced supplements. BodyBio also have a straight Sodium Butyrate Supplement, which is much the same as their Calcium/Magnesium Butyrate version - the difference between the two formulas is the minerals used to bind the butyric acid, ie. Sodium vs Calcium & Magnesium which act as a buffer to allow the butyric acid to reach the gut. All in all the Butyrate concentration is identical. So which Butyrate Supplement is better between the two formulas? We stock and use the Calcium/Magnesium Butyrate formula simply to avoid adding any additional sodium to ones daily intake.
BodyBio also produce TUDCA which is another supplement I have found very beneficial with a lot of patients with many different health benefits, you can read more about TUDCA specifically over at this article.
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