What is sodium butyrate? How can it benefit you?

Sodium Butyrate is the sodium salt of butyrate with potential antineoplastic activity. Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid, competitively binds to the zinc sites of class I and II histone deacetylases (HDACs). This binding affects the hyperacetylation of histones, resulting in a modified DNA conformation, which subsequently leads to the uncoiling or relaxing of chromatin. Enhanced accessibility of chromatin to transcription-regulatory complexes leads to increased transcriptional activation of various epigenetically repressed genes.

If you are facing any problem with your digestive system, then you should need sodium butyrate. Your gut needs butyrate for health and it is made by the gut microbiome.

It is the main energy source for colonocytes, the cells that make up your gut lining. Unlike other cells in your body which use glucose as their main energy source, the cell of the lining of your gut mainly uses butyrate. Without it, these cells would not be able to carry out the functions properly.

Sodium butyrate defends your cells from harmful substances to keep your gut healthy and disease-free. The colon or large intestine is a storage container for the waste you produce. Higher butyrate levels have been shown to increase levels of glutathione, an antioxidant produced in the body’s cells which neutralises free radicals in the gut. This is good because free radicals are linked to inflammation and many diseases. So if you increased the butyrate production could improve the barrier function of the colonocytes due to its secondary antioxidant functions. This reduces the risk of diseases like bowel cancer, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),m for these you need to intake sodium butyrate.

Also, sodium butyrate keeps your gut environment stable and is part of the protective effect associated with dietary fiber against certain cancers.