ArticleClinical and translational gastroenterology2018
Differential metabolic effects of oral butyrate treatment in lean versus metabolic syndrome subjects.
Article in Clinical and translational gastroenterology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 112 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
112 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 185 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut microbiome-based interventions for the management of obesity in children and adolescents aged up to 19 years.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of microencapsulated sodium butyrate on abdominal symptoms and carbohydrate metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Therapeutic Effects of Butyrate on Pediatric Obesity: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Trial
- DuodenalGut · 2022Trial
- Infusion of donor feces affects the gut-brain axis in humans with metabolic syndrome.Molecular metabolism · 2020Trial
- Oral butyrate does not affect innate immunity and islet autoimmunity in individuals with longstanding type 1 diabetes: a randomised controlled trial.Diabetologia · 2020Trial
- Dietary and nutritional strategies for reducing disease risk associated with antibiotic-induced dysbiosis.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Postbiotics Unveiled: The Next Emerging Trend in Functional Foods.Food science & nutrition · 2026Review
- The HDAC inhibitor sodium butyrate moderately enhances long-term fear extinction memory retrieval in humans.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Short-chain fatty acids.Nature metabolism · 2026Review
- Microbial reprogramming of immunogenic cell death: a new paradigm in tumor immunotherapy.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiome Dysbiosis in Metabolic Syndrome: Current Evidence and Emerging Perspectives.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Use of Sodium Butyrate and Its Microencapsulated Forms in Intestinal Diseases-Current Clinical Approach.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2026Review
- The Gut-Liver Axis in MASLD: From Host-Microbiome Crosstalk to Precision Therapeutics.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Effect of probioticBioscience of microbiota, food and health · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota-epigenetic interactions in systemic aging: mechanistic drivers for endocrine and reproductive network remodeling and therapeutic modulation.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Metabolic Phenotypes, Genotypes, and Gut Microbiome Signatures in Obesity: Implications for Precision Nutrition Strategies in Type 2 Diabetes Prevention.Nutrition reviews · 2026Review
- Butyrate-Mediated Upregulation of Insulin Pathway Gene Expression Suggests Potential Antidiabetic Effects.Drug development research · 2025Article
- Article
52 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) have been associated with beneficial metabolic effects. However, the direct effect of oral butyrate on metabolic parameters in humans has never been studied. In this first in men pilot study, we thus treated both lean and metabolic syndrome male subjects with oral sodium butyrate and investigated the effect on metabolism.
methodsHealthy lean males (n = 9) and metabolic syndrome males (n = 10) were treated with oral 4 g of sodium butyrate daily for 4 weeks. Before and after treatment, insulin sensitivity was determined by a two-step hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp using [6,6-
resultsOral butyrate had no effect on plasma and fecal butyrate levels after treatment, but did alter other SCFAs in both plasma and feces. Moreover, only in healthy lean subjects a significant improvement was observed in both peripheral (median Rd: from 71 to 82 µmol/kg min, p < 0.05) and hepatic insulin sensitivity (EGP suppression from 75 to 82% p < 0.05). Although BAT activity was significantly higher at baseline in lean (SUVmax: 12.4 ± 1.8) compared with metabolic syndrome subjects (SUVmax: 0.3 ± 0.8, p < 0.01), no significant effect following butyrate treatment on BAT was observed in either group (SUVmax lean to 13.3 ± 2.4 versus metabolic syndrome subjects to 1.2 ± 4.1).
conclusionsOral butyrate treatment beneficially affects glucose metabolism in lean but not metabolic syndrome subjects, presumably due to an altered SCFA handling in insulin-resistant subjects. Although preliminary, these first in men findings argue against oral butyrate supplementation as treatment for glucose regulation in human subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
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