Is there a relationship between Sodium Butyrate availability and Probiotics and their impact on maintaining the integrity of the lining of the gut?
Regarding butyrate, individuals with irritable bowel syndrome and celiac disease have an abnormal microbial population in their intestines according to a presentation by James Versalovic, an MD gastroenterologist from Baylor (paper 625 from the Dairy Foods Symposium. Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of Probiotic Function in Man and Animals. 2010 Joint Annual Meeting. ADSA/PSA/AMPSA/CSAS/WSASAS/ASAS. Denver, CO). Check his website. Individuals with such disorders characteristically lack butyrate producing bacteria in their small or large intestine. Is that a problem? In the rumen of cows, conversion of butyrate to beta-hydroxy butyrate serves as the primary energy source for cells of the rumen wall. I presume the same holds true for the intestinal wall of non-ruminants such as humans. Perhaps lack of butyrate is reducing nutrient absorption or altering gut health and metabolism and thereby permitting other microbes to proliferate that otherwise would be starved for nutrients. If so, providing a slow-release sodium butyrate or providing probiotics that produce butyrate might help provide needed nutrients for the gut wall and help to solve these prevalent problems with humans.