About Butyrate (Tributyrin / Sodium Butyrate)
Covers supplemental butyrate in all its label forms: butyric acid, sodium / calcium-magnesium butyrate salts (often microencapsulated, e.g. ProButyrate, BodyBio), and tributyrin, the triglyceride form (a short-chain fatty acid) designed to deliver butyrate to the colon more palatably than sodium butyrate. Branded as SunButyrate. Some human trials show increased circulating/postprandial butyrate and gut-barrier markers, but clinical outcome evidence (e.g., for IBS, gut barrier disease) in humans is still preliminary.
What Butyrate (Tributyrin / Sodium Butyrate) supports
- Delivers butyrate to support gut barrier/colon health — human outcome evidence is still preliminary
How much Butyrate (Tributyrin / Sodium Butyrate) to take
The RDA prevents deficiency. The effective range is what clinical trials used to actually move the outcome.
Effective
300–4500
mg
300 mg/day microencapsulated sodium butyrate reduced abdominal pain in a 12-week IBS RCT (Banasiewicz 2013, n=66); tributyrin/SunButyrate trials run into the grams. No single confirmed therapeutic dose.
Clinical evidence
Limited clinical evidence. Small human trials show increased butyrate levels; clinical outcome evidence remains preliminary.
NIH Fact Sheet