Butyric acid

[Discogs_discogs]

Have butyric acid supplements helped you? If so, how?

[Bolt_Upright]

It seemed to help some people over here: parkinsonsnewstoday.com/for...

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Bolt_Upright]

From the parkinsonsnewstoday forum (somebody who swears by butyrate):

Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA). Fatty acids are the building blocks of fats that our cells need to function. Butyrate is made when the bacteria living in our guts ferment otherwise indigestible fibers from grains, beans, onions, bananas, and other foods rich in complex carbs.

Butyrate is the preferred energy source for the cells in your colon wall. It is essential for maintaining a healthy barrier between the colon and bloodstream and it prevents inflammation in the gut.

Proponents:

•Is a major energy source for colon cells

•Believed to help prevent colon cancer

•Increases mitochondrial activity

•Prevents toxins from crossing the gut barrier

•Improves insulin sensitivity

•Promotes healthy weight

•Fight inflammation

•Prevents the growth of pathogenic bacteria

•Protects the brain

Skeptics:

•Strong odor

•Lack of high-quality human research

•Difficult to separate butyrate from other short-chain fatty acids

1) Gut Health

Butyrate is essential for maintaining a healthy environment in the gut. In the human colon, anaerobic bacteria such as Clostridium butyricum, Roseburia intestinalis, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii ferment carbohydrates and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs): acetate, propionate, and butyrate [3, 10, 11].

Colon Cell Energy Source

Butyrate nourishes the colon wall, maintains a healthy lining and barrier function of the colon, and prevents intestinal inflammation [4].

In the mitochondria of colon cells, 70-90% of butyrate is oxidized into acetyl-CoA, which is then used to generate large quantities of ATP, the primary form of cellular energy [12].

If you don’t have enough butyrate-producing bacteria in your gut, you may be more likely to develop diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and even colon cancer [13, 14, 15, 16, 17].

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Short-chain fatty acids, especially butyrate, can reduce the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In one study of 13 people with Crohn’s disease, a type of IBD, butyrate supplements improved 69% of cases, with symptoms completely disappearing in 54% (seven participants) [18, 19, 20, 21].

There are a variety of approaches for using butyrate to manage IBD and colitis. The treatment strategies range from a high-fiber diet to butyrate-producing probiotics, coated butyrate tablets, and rectal enemas [22, 23].

Diarrhea & Gut Inflammation

Resistant starch is a type of soluble fiber that your gut bacteria can ferment into butyrate. A diet containing lots of resistant starch improved diarrhea in a trial of 57 baby boys [24].

Butyrate can also prevent inflammation and stomach ulcers caused by alcohol. Mice given butyrate before alcohol had less inflammation and damage to the lining of their stomachs [25].

Sodium butyrate in combination with other SCFAs and silicon dioxide was also shown to benefit traveler’s diarrhea, a condition common among those who travel to exotic countries [26].

According to a great many studies, butyrate is vital for healthy gut flora, controlling inflammation, and maintaining a strong intestinal barrier.

2) Inflammation

Butyrate suppresses the activity of cells and proteins that drive inflammation [27].

In one study on human cells, butyrate drastically reduced the activity of interleukin-12 (IL-12), an inflammatory cytokine, while increasing interleukin-10 (IL-10), which is generally anti-inflammatory [28].

In mice, butyrate-producing dietary fibers counteracted inflammation and illness caused by bacterial toxins. The inflammatory cytokines inhibited by butyrate included interleukin-1 (IL-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interferon gamma (INF-y) [29].

Immune Response

Butyrate may reduce inflammation by increasing the activity of immune cells called regulatory T cells or Tregs. These specialized cells stop other immune cells – Th1, Th2, and Th17 – in their tracks, before they lose control. In turn, Tregs prevent the lining of the gut from overreacting to harmless food proteins [30].

Gut Barrier

Butyrate also strengthens the barrier formed by cells in the colon wall, thus preventing microbes and bacterial toxins from invading the bloodstream [31].

Inflammation Due to Aging

As we grow older, inflammation increases throughout our bodies. In aging mice, a diet high in fiber that produces butyrate counteracted age-related increases in inflammation, suggesting that butyrate may be especially helpful to the elderly. Human studies will be required to confirm this benefit, however [32].

Animal and cell studies show that butyrate inhibits inflammatory cytokines and prevents inflammatory bacterial toxins from entering the bloodstream.

3) Fine-Tuning the Immune System

As an HDAC inhibitor, butyrate adjusts the immune system in a number of ways.

HDAC inhibitors improve the tumor-targeting abilities of immune cells like T cells and natural killer cells; they are currently under investigation as potential cancer drugs. This class of compounds also reduces many inflammatory signals and increases Tregs, a type of white blood cell that prevents allergies and autoimmunity [33, 34, 35].

Butyrate more specifically protects the gut barrier and prevents pathogens and other harmful agents from crossing into the bloodstream [36].

4) Brain and Nerve Cells

The gut and the microbiome strongly affect the brain. Your gut bacteria “talk” to your cells by releasing butyrate, which (as an HDAC inhibitor) turns on certain genes [37].

Cognition

Butyrate may improve learning and long-term memory. Similar to exercise, sodium butyrate increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in mice. Simply put, butyrate supplies “brain food” (neuro = brain, trophic = food) to the hippocampus, the brain’s hub for memory and emotions. This gives birth to new neurons, called neurogenesis, a process that can reshape the brain [38].

The effect of butyrate supplements or intestinal butyrate concentration on cognition has not been tested in humans. However, this effect has been repeated multiple times in animals, and probiotics containing butyrate-producing bacteria have been associated with reduced stress in humans. Human trials on butyrate and cognition are likely to be next [39, 40, 32, 41].

Brain Injury

There’s a huge overlap between cognitive enhancement and recovery from brain damage. Both rely on neurogenesis, a process that replenishes and reshapes the brain.

In a mouse study, sodium butyrate given after a stroke supported the development of new nerve cells in the damaged areas. It also strengthened the blood-brain barrier in mice with brain trauma, which helped them recover. Butyrate-producing bacteria also strengthened this barrier in mice [42, 43, 44].

Clostridium butyricum, a butyrate-producing species of bacteria, may help manage vascular dementia, a disease whereby blood vessel blockages prevent brain cells from getting enough oxygen. In a mouse study, animals with C. butyricum in the gut experienced less cell death in their brains [45].

These effects have not yet been investigated in human trials.

Nerve Damage

Butyrate may also help manage other types of nerve damage. In guinea pigs, sodium butyrate protected nerve cells in the ear after treatment with antibiotics, thus preventing hearing loss [46].

Mice with brain damage due to lack of oxygen fared better when they were given the butyrate-producing bacteria Clostridium butyricum before the injury [47].

Sodium butyrate also prevented the death of nerve cells in the spine of mice with spinal muscular atrophy [48].

Animal studies show that butyrate is neuroprotective and may improve memory and reduce the impact of brain trauma. Human trials will be needed to confirm these effects.

Food Sources

You get can butyrate from food. For example, butyric acid abounds dairy products, especially butter. Butter, which gave butyrate its name, contains about 3 to 4% of butyrate in the form of tributyrin. Plant oils also contain butyrate to some extent [115, 116, 117].

Eating more fiber increases butyrate production by some bacteria in your gut. There is generally an association between a higher intake of plant foods and increased levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), including butyrate, in stools. However, not all plant-based foods yield butyrate; for example, diets rich in fruit or starch are associated with high butyrate levels in the gut, but starch-free wheat bran is not [118, 119, 120, 121].

Depending on the composition of your gut flora, the following fibers may encourage them to produce SFCAs, including butyrate [122, 123, 124]:

•Inulin: artichokes, garlic, leeks, onions, and asparagus

•Fructooligosaccharides (FOS): fruits and vegetables, including bananas, onions, garlic, and asparagus

•Resistant starch: cooked and cooled rice, potatoes and green bananas

•Pectin: apples, apricots, carrots, oranges, and others

•Oat bran

•Arabinoxylan

•Guar gum

•Arabinogalactan

•Hi-Maize, potato or plantain starch flours

parkinsonsnewstoday.com/for...

[KERRINGTON in reply to Bolt_Upright]

I tried 12 capsules a day, like the article for 3 weeks. I think it just constipated me. I forgot to add that in addition to butyrate I was also on mannitol, and cinnamon,

[chartist]

I think it is likely more effective to try and go the natural way of trying to increase not just butyrate, but the other dominant short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) via the fermentation process in the gut, but PwP are generally deficient in the gut bacteria that are needed in order to create SCFAs. Clostridium Butyricum is one of the few probiotic bacteria that are available in commercial probiotics that have been shown to increase the bacteria capable of producing SCFAs.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/317...

Taking butyrate is likely to be helpful also, but increasing the three dominant SCFAs, acetate, propionate and butyrate is likely to be more useful than just adding butyrate. Propionate is actually the SCFA that PwP are most deficient in. In a PD mouse model, propionate was able to decrease PD motor symptoms. All three dominant SCFAs have purposes in the body to maintain health and homeostasis and replacing just one of those three is not likely to be as effective as replacing all three, especially considering that PwP are low in all three.

microbiomejournal.biomedcen...

My personal experience with probiotics is that they are generally underpowered for the desired purpose of increasing SCFA promoting bacteria in the gut. Probiotics can not make medical treatment claims for their products and if they list a very high dose on their packages, they may come under the scrutiny of the FDA and have to explain why they are requiring such a high dose of their product compared to other probiotic manufacturers. This is just my opinion.

Art

[Bolt_Upright in reply to chartist]

Well done as always Art!

I just stumbled upon a video presentation by Lucy Mailing PHD. I will share more about it in a separate post. Lucy is a microbiome researcher. One interesting thing that caught my eye:

youtu.be/s2LIHwicPQk?t=1974(Not working as expected?)

Butyrate supp. for 2 months increased the abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria in a placebo controlled RCT.

So taking butyrate helps your gut produce more butyrate!

Butyrate Bullet

[chartist in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Bolt,

Excellent find!

I don't have time to watch the video right now, but I certainly will later.

Art

[chartist in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Thank you for the link, Bolt! I watched it once, but will have to watch it again to make sure I heard it all correctly because the audio track quality is poor. I think I know what she is missing in her treatment plan and I'm not sure how she missed it. In any case, a very good video to me. Do you remember what I said about us being on two different roads, but are heading to the same place? Well this is a case of you on your road sharing information that helps me on the other road...big help! I will try and return the favor soon!

Art

[Bolt_Upright in reply to chartist]

What is she missing Art? I e-mailed her and told her she was missing Niacin (but got an out of office for the summer).

[chartist in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Bolt,

I'm writing about it right now and will post it when I'm finished, but this looks like it is going to be a lengthy post because it also goes into details about the microbiome that she did not discuss in her video, but are certainly important in terms of things that PwP can do to improve the gut microbiota. It should bring several ideas together that have been discussed on the forum in a way that can potentially explain the interplay between multiple components toward improvement of the gut microbiota. Again, thank you for the video link.

Art

[Bolt_Upright in reply to chartist]

Clostridium Butyricum is one of the few probiotic bacteria that are available in commercial probiotics that have been shown to increase the bacteria capable of producing SCFAs.

Ah! The Miyarisan tablets! I may need to order these.

amazon.com/Miyarisan-tablet...

[Millbrook in reply to Bolt_Upright]

amazon.co.jp

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Millbrook]

Do you know if the 1000 tablets from Japan for $50 the same size as the 330 tablets from Amazon US for $50?

Also do you know if the Miyarisan establishes a colony or is it a lifelong supplement? I'm guessing for a non-PwP it establishes a colony but for us, not so much

Thanks!

[Millbrook in reply to Bolt_Upright]

The 1000 tablets is a huge bottle and is not the same size as the 330 tablets so you are getting value.

Miyarisan does not establish itself permanently in the gut like other probiotics. Refer to the post on probiotic PS 128.

I am going to increase B1 to 200 mg ( taking 100 mg presently) and niacin to 250 mg plus the Miyarisan - then will have the butyrate + niacin combo

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Millbrook]

Thank you so much Millbrook!

So now I have an account set up with Amazon Japan!

But when it got to selecting my shipping options, everything was Greek to me! Actually Japanese. Google Translate could not get me through that section.

Thinking of entering my credit card info into a Japanese screen got worrisome.

But, I do have an account there now, so moving in a positive direction.

Thanks!

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Art was right. ebay can beat Amazon prices at least.

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Millbrook]

Make sure you search on Niacin Slow Release Liver Damage. I don't want to scare you. I think it is a non issue and I corresponded with the lead of the team than did the B3 study and he seemed unconcerned. What is interesting is maybe a danger of switching back and forth between immediate release and time released. I'm using time released right now. No flush. I might try to switch over to immediate release. I'll have to start small if I do that (and it seems really hard to find small doses).

[Millbrook in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Not using extended release. Just the straight forward niacin with flushing. Many years ago read a book by Robert K. And he recommended 250 mg of flushing niacin for heart health.

We are using basic B by Thorne that has some niacin in it so I just add the balance to 250 mg.

Same for the B1

[Bolt_Upright in reply to Millbrook]

BTW: I figured out how to get Amazon Japan to display everything in English (except their buttons, I think the buttons are still in Japanese. I may try them again.

[Millbrook in reply to Bolt_Upright]

Solgar has flushing niacin @250 mg. you can take half a tablet if you want to start slowly.

[Bolt_Upright in reply to chartist]

Here is a head scratcher. I got excited about Niacin based on Professor Chong's work. Then I got excited about combining Niacin and Butyrate based on some guy on another forum who swears by them. Then I followed the link that guy shared and it says the combination came from Professor Chong too.

I reached out to Professor Chong to see of this is legit.

foundationalmedicinereview....

[Discogs_discogs in reply to Bolt_Upright]

What did professor Chong say in response to your enquiry?

[KERRINGTON in reply to chartist]

I tried Steel Cut Oatmeal today because it promotes butyrate...really got my intestines working, while those 12 butyrate capsules a day experiment yielded nothing ! Food source worked...