Sodium butyrate

Short chain fatty acids including butyrate, propionate and acetate are produced by the gut flora from prebiotic fibers. Of these three butyrate is the most important as it serves a key role in both nourishing the colonocytes which burn it for fuel and in sending immunomodulatory signals to balance immune function. Butyrate falls into a class of compounds called post-biotics. Unlike prebiotics which provide fiber to fuel the growth of the microbiome and probiotics which provide live or dead organisms themselves, postbiotics represent supplements that include metabolic products of healthy microbiome metabolism. [References 1,2,3].