Research

Sodium Butyrate

31 peer-reviewed studies curated from PubMed and Semantic Scholar.

3
Meta-analyses
1
Systematic reviews
26
RCTs
1
Other studies
Meta-analyses (10%)
Systematic reviews (3%)
RCTs (84%)

Studies

Sorted by quality and recency

2025·Poultry science·A Kihal, M Puyalto, J J Mallo

Effect of feeding protected sodium butyrate on production performance and intestinal morphology of broilers: A meta-analysis.

Meta-analysisn = 12,204Nutrition

Meta-analysis evaluating the effect of protected sodium butyrate (PSB) on broiler chickens. PSB moderately improved production performance parameters such as body weight, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio, and enhanced intestinal morphology with increased villi height and villi:crypts ratio.

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2025·Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology·Maneesh Kumar Maddirevula, Vinod Kumar Nelson, Mohamed Soliman, et al

Effect of probiotic-derived metabolites on hormonal and metabolic profiles in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Meta-analysisn = 1,214Hormone Health Womens Health

Systematic review and meta-analysis of 17 trials involving 1214 women with PCOS, assessing the effects of probiotic-derived metabolites on hormonal and metabolic outcomes. Interventions, including sodium butyrate and synbiotics, significantly reduced total testosterone, LH/FSH ratio, fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR, while modestly increasing HDL-C.

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2025·Medicine·Hongxin Xu, Xia Wang, Shoujun Song, et al

Efficacy of sodium butyrate in improving nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A meta-analysis of preclinical studies.

Meta-analysisn = 192Inflammation Gut Health

Meta-analysis of 12 animal studies involving 192 animals to evaluate the efficacy of sodium butyrate in ameliorating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Sodium butyrate treatment improved liver function, reduced triglyceride and cholesterol levels, inhibited inflammation, and protected intestinal barrier function.

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2022·PloS one·Caio Abércio da Silva, Cleandro Pazinato Dias, Marco Aurélio Callegari, et al

Phytogenics and encapsulated sodium butyrate can replace antibiotics as growth promoters for lightly weaned piglets.

RCTn = 200Nutrition Gut Health Physical Performance

RCT evaluating the effect of essential oils plus dry herbs (PHYTO) and encapsulated sodium butyrate (BUT) compared to enramycin (ENR) on growth, diarrhoea control, and intestinal microbiota in weaned piglets. BUT improved daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio, and reduced diarrhoea incidence compared to control. PHYTO and BUT modulated specific caecal microbiota.

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2020·Complementary medicine research·Małgorzata Jamka, Marta Kokot, Nina Kaczmarek, et al

The Effect of Sodium Butyrate Enemas Compared with Placebo on Disease Activity, Endoscopic Scores, and Histological and Inflammatory Parameters in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials.

Systematic reviewn = 227Gut Health

Systematic review of RCTs assessing sodium butyrate enemas in 227 UC patients. Only one study reported significant differences in disease activity index, and no significant differences were found in endoscopic and histological scores. Butyrate enemas had a significant effect on a few inflammatory parameters in colonic mucosal biopsies.

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2025·Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research·Katarzyna Karłowicz, Konrad Lewandowski, Magdalena A Kaniewska, et al

Efficacy of Microencapsulated Sodium Butyrate as Add-On Therapy in Inducing Remission in Patients with Mild-To-Moderate Ulcerative Colitis: Results From a Multi-Center, Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study.

RCTn = 98Gut Health Inflammation

This multi-center, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluated the efficacy and safety of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (MSB) as add-on therapy for inducing remission in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. MSB led to significant clinical improvement, remission, and endoscopic improvement compared to placebo, with strong correlations between fecal butyric acid levels and clinical outcomes.

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2024·European journal of clinical nutrition·Parichehr Amiri, Seyed Ahmad Hosseini, Maryam Saghafi-Asl, et al

Expression of PGC-1α, PPAR-α and UCP1 genes, metabolic and anthropometric factors in response to sodium butyrate supplementation in patients with obesity: a triple-blind, randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial.

RCTn = 50Physique Nutrition

Triple-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial of sodium butyrate (NaB) supplementation in 50 individuals with obesity. NaB increased PGC-1α and UCP-1 gene expression, decreased weight, BMI, and waist circumference, and improved metabolic factors such as fasting blood sugar and cholesterol levels when combined with a hypo-caloric diet.

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2022·Nutrients·Anna Pietrzak, Marcin Banasiuk, Mariusz Szczepanik, et al

Sodium Butyrate Effectiveness in Children and Adolescents with Newly Diagnosed Inflammatory Bowel Diseases-Randomized Placebo-Controlled Multicenter Trial.

RCTn = 72Gut Health -

RCT evaluating the effectiveness of oral sodium butyrate as an add-on to standard therapy in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed IBD. The study found no difference in remission rate or median disease activity between the sodium butyrate and placebo groups after 12 weeks.

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2012·Journal of animal science·J J Mallo, A Balfagón, M I Gracia, et al

Evaluation of different protections of butyric acid aiming for release in the last part of the gastrointestinal tract of piglets.

RCTn = 528

Three tests, including two in vivo and one in vitro, compared the effects of two forms of butyric acid protection on its release in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets. The study found that vegetable fat-encapsulated sodium butyrate (SBE) allowed more butyric acid to reach the distal sections of the GIT compared to monoglyceride of butyric acid (MB). SBE-fed animals had higher concentrations of volatile fatty acids in the colon.

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2026·Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)·Roberta Testa, Marilena Vitale, Annalisa Giosuè, et al

Targeting weight loss and blood glucose control with oral sodium butyrate in overweight/obese adults with and without type 2 diabetes: A proof-of-concept randomized controlled trial.

RCTn = 46Physique Nutrition

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial assessed the effects of oral sodium butyrate supplementation on body weight and metabolic profile in 46 overweight/obese adults, with and without type 2 diabetes. Sodium butyrate induced greater weight loss in non-diabetic participants and improved triglyceridemia and glycemic control in diabetic participants.

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2024·Lipids in health and disease·Donya Firoozi, Seyed Jalil Masoumi, Seyed Mohammad-Kazem Hosseini Asl, et al

Effects of short-chain fatty acid-butyrate supplementation on expression of circadian-clock genes, sleep quality, and inflammation in patients with active ulcerative colitis: a double-blind randomized controlled trial.

RCTn = 36Inflammation Sleep

This double-blind randomized controlled trial investigated the effects of sodium-butyrate supplementation on circadian-clock gene expression, inflammation, and sleep quality in 36 active ulcerative colitis patients. Sodium-butyrate significantly decreased inflammation markers, upregulated circadian-clock genes, and improved sleep quality and quality of life compared to placebo.

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2020·Neurogastroenterology and motility·Sonia Facchin, Nicola Vitulo, Matteo Calgaro, et al

Microbiota changes induced by microencapsulated sodium butyrate in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

RCTn = 49Gut Health Inflammation

Double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study of microencapsulated sodium butyrate in 49 IBD patients. Sodium butyrate altered gut microbiota by increasing SCFA-producing bacteria in UC patients and butyrogenic bacteria in CD patients, with positive effects on quality of life in UC patients.

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2017·Journal of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Research·Neda Roshanravan, R. Mahdavi, E. Alizadeh, et al

The effects of sodium butyrate and inulin supplementation on angiotensin signaling pathway via promotion of Akkermansia muciniphila abundance in type 2 diabetes; A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

RCTn = 60Inflammation Heart Health

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigated the effects of sodium butyrate and inulin supplementation on inflammatory and oxidative stress parameters in 60 overweight and obese type 2 diabetic patients. The study found significant increases in Akkermansia muciniphila abundance and decreases in TNF-α mRNA expression, hs-CRP, MDA, and diastolic blood pressure in the supplemented groups, suggesting improvements in inflammation and hypertension.

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2016·Preventive veterinary medicine·Kavita Walia, Hector Argüello, Helen Lynch, et al

Effect of feeding sodium butyrate in the late finishing period on Salmonella carriage, seroprevalence, and growth of finishing pigs.

RCTImmunity

This study investigated the effectiveness of dietary supplementation with sodium butyrate in finishing pigs to control Salmonella shedding on highly contaminated farms. Sodium butyrate reduced Salmonella shedding and seroprevalence in one trial but not in another, possibly due to co-infection with Lawsonia intracellularis. No significant differences in growth performance were observed.

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2013·Journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition·C L Fang, H Sun, J Wu, et al

Effects of sodium butyrate on growth performance, haematological and immunological characteristics of weanling piglets.

RCTn = 100Immunity

The study investigated the effects of sodium butyrate on growth, haematological, and immunological characteristics in weanling piglets. Sodium butyrate supplementation significantly decreased diarrhoea incidence and increased serum IgG concentration and IgA+ cell count in the jejunum, suggesting enhanced immune function and reduced weaning stress.

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2013·Colorectal disease : the official journal of the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland·T Banasiewicz, Ł Krokowicz, Z Stojcev, et al

Microencapsulated sodium butyrate reduces the frequency of abdominal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

RCTn = 66Gut Health

RCT of 66 IBS patients assessing microencapsulated sodium butyrate (MSB) as a supplemental treatment to standard therapy. MSB significantly decreased pain during defaecation after 4 weeks and improved urgency and bowel habit at 12 weeks, though reduction in abdominal pain, flatulence, and disordered defaecation was not statistically significant.

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2013·International journal of colorectal disease·Lukasz Krokowicz, Zoran Stojcev, Bartosz Filip Kaczmarek, et al

Microencapsulated sodium butyrate administered to patients with diverticulosis decreases incidence of diverticulitis--a prospective randomized study.

RCTn = 52Gut Health Inflammation

RCT of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (MSB) in 73 patients with diverticulosis, with 52 completing the study. MSB group showed a significantly decreased number of diverticulitis episodes and improved quality of life compared to placebo, with no side effects.

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2012·BMC infectious diseases·Rubhana Raqib, Protim Sarker, Akhirunnesa Mily, et al

Efficacy of sodium butyrate adjunct therapy in shigellosis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

RCTn = 80Gut Health Inflammation

RCT of 80 adult patients with shigellosis comparing sodium butyrate enema to placebo. Butyrate therapy led to early reduction of macrophages, pus cells, IL-8, and IL-1β in stool, improved rectal histopathology, and induced LL-37 expression in rectal epithelia.

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2009·Poultry science·C Fernández-Rubio, C Ordóñez, J Abad-González, et al

Butyric acid-based feed additives help protect broiler chickens from Salmonella Enteritidis infection.

RCTn = 150Immunity

RCT in broiler chickens testing sodium butyrate-based feed additives for preventing Salmonella Enteritidis infection. Both free and partially protected sodium butyrate additives significantly reduced infection, with the partially protected form being more effective in later stages.

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2015·Journal of dairy science·Z M Kowalski, P Górka, J Flaga, et al

Effect of microencapsulated sodium butyrate in the close-up diet on performance of dairy cows in the early lactation period.

RCTn = 26

Two trials were conducted to assess the effect of microencapsulated sodium butyrate in the diet of dairy cows and growing bulls. In dairy cows, sodium butyrate did not affect dry matter intake, milk yield, or body condition, but increased dry matter intake in the last 5 days before parturition. In growing bulls, sodium butyrate increased rumen papillae length and cross-section surface area in the dorsal sac, but not in the ventral sac, and increased rumen muscle layer thickness.

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2015·Digestive and liver disease : official journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver·Cristina Luceri, Angelo Pietro Femia, Marilena Fazi, et al

Effect of butyrate enemas on gene expression profiles and endoscopic/histopathological scores of diverted colorectal mucosa: A randomized trial.

RCTn = 20Gut Health

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial investigating sodium butyrate enemas in patients with enterostomy. Butyrate enemas improved endoscopic scores and reduced mucosal atrophy, with up-regulation of genes associated with mucosal repair.

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2014·Domestic animal endocrinology·G Mátis, A Kulcsár, V Turowski, et al

Effects of oral butyrate application on insulin signaling in various tissues of chickens.

RCTn = 10

The study investigated the effects of oral sodium butyrate on insulin signaling in Ross 308 broiler chickens. Sodium butyrate decreased protein expression of insulin receptor β subunit in liver and adipose tissues but increased it in muscle. It also reduced systemic insulin sensitivity, indicated by elevated fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, with tissue-specific responses in insulin signaling.

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2013·Travel medicine and infectious disease·Lukasz Krokowicz, Bartosz F Kaczmarek, Piotr Krokowicz, et al

Sodium butyrate and short chain fatty acids in prevention of travellers' diarrhoea: a randomized prospective study.

RCTn = 42Gut Health

RCT assessing sodium butyrate and short-chain fatty acids for prevention of travellers' diarrhoea in 42 adults. The study group showed significantly reduced occurrence of diarrhoea and gastrointestinal symptoms compared to placebo, with no adverse effects.

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2013·Journal of dairy science·P Górka, P Pietrzak, A Kotunia, et al

Effect of method of delivery of sodium butyrate on maturation of the small intestine in newborn calves.

RCTn = 28

The study investigated the effect of sodium butyrate supplementation in milk replacer and starter mixture on small intestine maturation in newborn calves. Different delivery methods of sodium butyrate affected small intestine development, with milk replacer supplementation generally having a more pronounced effect. No synergistic effect was found when sodium butyrate was supplemented in both milk replacer and starter mixture.

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2011·Journal of dairy science·P Górka, Z M Kowalski, P Pietrzak, et al

Is rumen development in newborn calves affected by different liquid feeds and small intestine development?

RCTn = 21

The study investigated the effect of different liquid feeds on calf small intestine and rumen development. Calves were fed whole milk, milk replacer, or milk replacer supplemented with sodium butyrate. Calves fed whole milk showed higher average daily gain and better intestinal development compared to those fed milk replacer. Sodium butyrate supplementation improved some intestinal and rumen parameters compared to milk replacer alone.

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2009·The British journal of nutrition·Maud Le Gall, Mélanie Gallois, Bernard Sève, et al

Comparative effect of orally administered sodium butyrate before or after weaning on growth and several indices of gastrointestinal biology of piglets.

RCTn = 32Nutrition

RCT investigating the effects of sodium butyrate (SB) supplementation before or after weaning on piglets' growth and gastrointestinal biology. Pre-weaning SB supplementation improved post-weaning growth and feed intake, while post-weaning SB decreased enzyme activity and digestibility. Pre-weaning SB was most effective for growth and feed efficiency.

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2007·Journal of animal science·G Biagi, A Piva, M Moschini, et al

Performance, intestinal microflora, and wall morphology of weanling pigs fed sodium butyrate.

RCTn = 48Gut Health Physical Performance -

The study investigated the effect of sodium butyrate on swine microflora, piglet growth performance, and intestinal wall morphology. Sodium butyrate reduced total gas production and increased ammonia concentrations in vitro. In vivo, it did not improve growth performance but increased cecal pH and tended to increase ammonia concentrations.

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2007·World journal of gastroenterology·Aldo Roda, Patrizia Simoni, Maria Magliulo, et al

A new oral formulation for the release of sodium butyrate in the ileo-cecal region and colon.

RCTn = 24Gut Health

The study developed a new formulation for the extended and selective delivery of sodium butyrate in the ileo-cecal region and colon. It involved administering coated sodium butyrate tablets to 12 healthy subjects and 12 Crohn's disease patients, evaluating the absorption rate via 13CO2 breath test. The formulation delayed release by 2-3 hours compared to uncoated tablets, ensuring efficient delivery in the intestine, even in patients with short transit times.

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2000·Digestive diseases and sciences·P Vernia, G Monteleone, G Grandinetti, et al

Combined oral sodium butyrate and mesalazine treatment compared to oral mesalazine alone in ulcerative colitis: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

RCTn = 30Gut Health

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study evaluated the safety and efficacy of oral sodium butyrate combined with mesalazine in 30 patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. The combined treatment group showed significant improvement in clinical, endoscopic, and histologic parameters compared to baseline, with a more favorable trend than the mesalazine-only group. Sodium butyrate was found to be safe and well tolerated.

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2000·Lancet (London, England)·P Vernia, P L Fracasso, V Casale, et al

Topical butyrate for acute radiation proctitis: randomised, crossover trial.

RCTn = 20

Randomised, crossover trial of 20 patients with acute radiation proctitis treated with topical sodium butyrate enemas. Sodium butyrate led to remission of symptoms, showing significant improvement over saline placebo in clinical, endoscopic, and histological assessments.

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2007·The Journal of biological chemistry·Jianguo Wang, Shawn A Mahmud, Peter B Bitterman, et al

Histone deacetylase inhibitors suppress TF-kappaB-dependent agonist-driven tissue factor expression in endothelial cells and monocytes.

In vitro

The study investigates the effect of histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), including trichostatin A, sodium butyrate, and others, on tissue factor (TF) expression in endothelial cells and monocytes. HDACi were found to inhibit TF activity and protein level induction by approximately 90% in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and by 50% in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and murine macrophages, suggesting a potential therapeutic role for HDACi in thrombotic disorders.

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