The 7 Best Butyrate Supplement Brands + Its Fascinating Benefits

Butyrate is the fuel your colon cells run on. When your gut doesn’t make enough of it, the lining weakens, inflammation creeps up, and digestion gets cranky. A good butyrate supplement can help fill that gap, and the research behind it has grown a lot since I first wrote this guide.

Written and reviewed by Heidi Moretti, MS, RD, CLT, registered dietitian with 25+ years of clinical experience in gut health and author of Gut Fix and The Whole Body Guide to Gut Health.
Originally published June 2023. Updated September 23, 2026 with 2025–2026 clinical trials.

This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon and my Fullscript dispensary. If you buy through them I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I would use with my own clients.

The 7 best butyrate supplements at a glance

One thing you should know before you buy: most butyrate supplements smell like sour milk. It’s harmless, and it’s actually a sign you’re getting real butyric acid, but if it’s a deal breaker, choose a tributyrin or triglyceride form. I’ve marked the low-odor options below.

Why the form of butyrate matters more than the brand

When I first wrote this post, I said the form of butyrate was mostly personal preference. The newer research has changed my thinking a little. The big problem with plain butyrate salts is that oral butyrate is unstable in the upper digestive tract, so very little reaches the colon unless it’s protected. That matters, because the colon is where butyrate does most of its work.

Here’s how the main forms compare:

• Sodium, calcium, and magnesium butyrate are salts. They’re inexpensive, well studied, and a great value, but uncoated capsules are largely absorbed before the colon. They also have the strongest smell.
• Tributyrin and butyrate triglycerides (like CoreBiome and SunButyrate-TG) are three butyrate molecules attached to a glycerol backbone. They survive stomach acid and are released by your fat-digesting enzymes. In a 2025 lab model, roughly half of a tributyrin dose stayed intact and available to reach the colon, where it raised butyrate levels and boosted Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia. That was a lab simulation rather than a human trial, but it fits the much lower odor and good tolerance tributyrin is known for.
• Microencapsulated or delayed-release sodium butyrate is coated to release in the lower small intestine and colon. This is the form used in many of the strongest IBS and ulcerative colitis trials from Europe.

How I chose the best butyrate supplement brands

Butyrate is made naturally when gut bacteria ferment fiber, and supplement makers produce it in a similar way. So beyond the form, the brands I recommend here stood out because they:

• Are professional grade or have a long reputation for quality with healthcare providers
• Are made in GMP-certified facilities with third-party quality testing
• Skip unnecessary fillers and additives
• Include complementary gut-healing ingredients or digestive enzymes where it makes sense

I also compared where each one is sold. Several of these are noticeably less expensive through my Fullscript supplement dispensary than on Amazon, and Fullscript ships directly from the manufacturer supply chain. Prices change often, so check both before you buy.

Best butyrate overall: Pure Encapsulations SunButyrate-TGBest overall and best liquid butyrate

Pure Encapsulations SunButyrate is my top pick because it contains zero additives and comes in a pleasant liquid form, which is a huge help for anyone who struggles to swallow capsules. The blueberry-vanilla flavor is surprisingly good for a butyrate product, and because it’s a triglyceride form, the sour-milk odor is minimal. Pure Encapsulations is also one of the most trusted brands among healthcare providers.

What’s inside

• 875 mg butyric acid per serving, the highest dose on this list
• SunButyrate triglyceride form
• Only natural vitamin E and rosemary extract added
• About 56 servings per bottle
• Great tasting for a butyrate supplement
• Usually less expensive on Fullscript

Find the best price on SunButyrate View SunButyrate on Amazon

Best butyrate with digestive enzymes: IntoleraseVita Aid Professional Therapeutics

Intolerase is a professional-grade butyrate designed for people with food intolerances who also want to help heal the gut. It pairs calcium butyrate with a broad blend of carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, so it helps with the gas and bloating that come from poorly digested starches, lactose, and fibers. Reviewers report that it can be a helpful alternative to a strict low FODMAP diet in some cases.

Take it with each meal for the most benefit. It’s available only through Fullscript, and signing up for a free account takes about a minute.

Per 3 capsules

• 138 mg calcium from calcium butyrate
• 600 mg butyrate from butyric acid
• Alpha-galactosidase and lactase
• Alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, and glucoamylase
• Pectinase, beta-glucanase, hemicellulase, and xylanase
• Invertase and maltase
• Fungal protease and acid protease

Get Intolerase on Fullscript

Best butyrate supplement for gut healing: GI Restore LFVita Aid Professional Therapeutics

GI Restore LF is my go-to when the main goal is repairing the gut lining. It doesn’t just provide butyrate; it adds research-backed zinc carnosine, which is well studied for protecting and healing the lining of the digestive tract, along with glutamine, quercetin, and curcumin. If you’re working on healing a leaky gut with diet, this pairs well with that approach.

It’s a good value per capsule and available through Fullscript.

Per 3 capsules

• 244 mg butyrate (56 mg calcium from calcium butyrate)
• Zinc L-carnosine: 36 mg zinc and 114 mg L-carnosine
• 600 mg L-glutamine
• 300 mg quercetin
• 200 mg curcumin as C3 Complex
• 20 mg cayenne extract

Get GI Restore LF on Fullscript

What is butyrate?

Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid your gut bacteria make when they ferment fiber. It’s the main energy source for the cells lining your colon, and it helps keep the tight junctions between those cells sealed, calms immune activity in the gut, and shapes which bacteria thrive. Small amounts are also found in butter and cheese, which is where the name comes from. For a full list, see my guide to the best butyrate foods and how they boost your gut.

Some experts argue that you can get all the butyrate you need from fiber alone. In a healthy gut, that may be true. But many of the people I work with have disrupted guts with fewer butyrate-producing bacteria, and research shows that people with IBS and type 2 diabetes often have lower levels of these microbes. For them, making butyrate from fiber isn’t straightforward, and that’s where a supplement can help.

Many people notice that other aspects of their health improve too, including mood and autoimmune symptoms, after taking butyrate for a month or so.

What the newest butyrate research shows (2025–2026)

Since this post was first published, several randomized, placebo-controlled trials have been completed. They’re still small, but the direction is consistent. Here’s a snapshot of the most striking results:

Butyrate for inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is still the most researched area for butyrate, especially ulcerative colitis. Butyrate helps regulate the immune response in the gut by balancing T cells, repairs the gut lining, and helps decrease inflammation in IBD.

In an earlier study of people with ulcerative colitis in remission, 72% of those taking microencapsulated butyrate as an add-on improved their residual symptoms after one year, compared with 24% of those on mesalamine alone. Supplemental butyrate also helped the gut make more of its own butyrate by promoting healthy bacteria in people with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. And people with ulcerative colitis who took butyrate plus probiotics and prebiotics had a meaningful reduction in colitis symptoms over a year, while those on standard 5-ASA treatment alone did not.

What’s new: A 2025 double-blind trial in active ulcerative colitis found that 600 mg of sodium butyrate daily for 12 weeks lowered disease severity scores, inflammatory markers, and anxiety and depression scores compared with placebo. A larger multicenter trial of 98 adults with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis tested microencapsulated sodium butyrate as an add-on therapy for 8 weeks, and a 2026 systematic review reported that it improved clinical and endoscopic outcomes over placebo. That same 2026 systematic review of sodium butyrate in ulcerative colitis also noted that not every study shows clear superiority over standard care, so butyrate is best seen as a helpful add-on, never a replacement for your IBD treatment.

Butyrate for IBS symptoms

Butyrate also has solid support for irritable bowel syndrome. In a large real-world study, nearly 3,000 people with IBS took microencapsulated butyrate daily for 12 weeks, and 94% said they would keep taking it because they felt better. That wasn’t a randomized trial, but in a randomized clinical trial butyrate significantly reduced bowel urgency and pain around bowel movements in IBS.

Researchers believe butyrate helps ease IBS symptoms by healing the gut lining and reducing gut pain signaling.

What’s new: A 2025 placebo-controlled trial in 51 children aged 4 to 17 with IBS found that 500 mg of calcium butyrate daily for 8 weeks led to treatment success in 73% of kids versus 3.8% on placebo, along with more butyrate-producing bacteria and fewer inflammatory strains. That placebo response was unusually low, and other researchers have questioned it, so I’m treating the size of the effect cautiously. Still, it adds to a consistent pattern.

Butyrate and SIBO: an intriguing new finding

This is the result I’m most interested in for my own clients. In a 2026 randomized, double-blind trial of 52 adults with type 2 diabetes and IBS, 1.5 g per day of microencapsulated sodium butyrate for 12 weeks reduced abdominal pain, diarrhea, and bloating, and cut positive lactulose breath tests from 77% to 27%. The placebo group didn’t change.

The authors were careful to point out that a lactulose breath test can reflect gut transit time rather than true bacterial overgrowth, so this isn’t proof that butyrate treats SIBO. What it does suggest is that butyrate changes fermentation in a helpful direction. In practice, I see butyrate as a support tool for rebuilding the gut lining during and after SIBO treatment. If you’re in the middle of treatment, my guide to reducing SIBO die-off symptoms covers how to feel better along the way.

Butyrate for blood sugar and weight

This area has moved quickly. Earlier research showed butyrate may lower blood sugar in people with diabetes. Two newer trials make the case stronger:

• In the 2026 type 2 diabetes and IBS trial above, the butyrate group lost about 2 kg and improved both HbA1c and insulin resistance over 12 weeks, while the placebo group didn’t change.
• In a separate 2026 trial of 46 adults with overweight or obesity on the same calorie-controlled diet, those taking 1,875 mg of sodium butyrate daily lost about 7 kg versus about 3 kg on placebo if they didn’t have diabetes. In those with type 2 diabetes, butyrate lowered triglycerides and increased time in a healthy glucose range on continuous glucose monitors.

These are small studies, and butyrate is not a weight-loss drug. But it’s a promising helper when you’re already working on diet and lifestyle.

Butyrate for immunity and inflammation

Many of butyrate’s immune benefits come from its ability to heal the gut lining, which helps the gut keep unwanted bacteria and viruses out. Butyric acid also increases beneficial bacteria, including Akkermansia muciniphila. Interestingly, sodium butyrate worked better than the prebiotic inulin for increasing this beneficial species.

Butyrate also balances adaptive immune responses, including T cells, which is why it may help dampen autoimmune activity, although more research is needed.

Anything that helps heal the gut usually helps lower inflammation throughout the body, and butyrate is no exception. In one clinical study, 600 mg of sodium butyrate daily for 45 days significantly decreased inflammatory markers in people with type 2 diabetes.

Potential heart benefits of butyrate

A review of the research examined butyrate’s many possible heart benefits, including its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on the cardiovascular system, its possible role in weight control, and its effects on the microbiome. Clinical research shows butyrate can help lower blood pressure in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes, and it helps reduce oxidized LDL cholesterol. Total LDL may rise slightly, but there isn’t enough research yet on the more harmful small, dense LDL particles. The 2026 triglyceride results above add another encouraging data point.

Butyrate for mood and the gut-brain axis

Improved mood comes up again and again in butyrate supplement reviews, and the research is starting to catch up. In animal studies, butyrate improved both mood and memory under stress, and other work found similar stress-relieving benefits of butyrate.

The 2025 ulcerative colitis trial above is one of the first human studies to measure this directly: anxiety and depression scores dropped significantly with butyrate compared with placebo. A 2025 systematic review called butyrate a promising candidate for depression support but found only two completed human trials, so this remains an early and exciting area.

Early research also suggests butyrate may help with Parkinson’s disease. One study found sodium butyrate reduced movement impairments in a Parkinson’s model, and low blood butyrate is linked with depression symptoms in Parkinson’s disease. It’s too early to say whether butyrate will help people with this condition.

Butyrate for diverticulitis and traveler’s diarrhea

Diverticulitis is painful and often needs medical care. In one study, adding just 300 mg of sodium butyrate daily reduced the number of diverticulitis episodes in people with a history of it, and improved their quality of life.

Butyrate may even help prevent traveler’s diarrhea. People traveling to tropical countries who took sodium butyrate had lower chances of nausea, bloating, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

Butyrate and food sensitivities: why more fiber isn’t always the answer

The standard advice for more butyrate is “eat more fiber.” I agree in principle, but in my experience many kinds of fiber cause gut distress on their own unless you add them gradually and account for food sensitivities. Someone reacting to a specific fiber or food can eat all the “right” things and still feel bloated and inflamed.

That’s why I start with the question of which foods are driving inflammation. With MRT testing and the LEAP protocol, we can identify reactive foods and build an eating plan around the ones that calm your system. I call it test, not guess. You can learn how it works in my complete guide to MRT testing and the LEAP method, or read how MRT testing transformed my own health.

For a gentle starting fiber, I usually suggest acacia or pectin, along with the foods that naturally raise butyrate levels. My roundup of the best fiber supplements for IBS-D covers the options that tend to be easiest on sensitive guts.

How to start a butyrate supplement

1. Choose your form. Pick a calcium-magnesium butyrate for value, a tributyrin softgel or triglyceride liquid if smell bothers you, or a microencapsulated product if your main concern is the colon.
2. Start at half the label dose. Take half of the labeled dose with a meal for 2 to 3 days to let your gut adjust.
3. Increase to the full dose. If you feel fine, move up to the full label dose, usually 1 to 3 capsules per day with food.
4. Pair it with a fiber you tolerate. Add a gentle fiber such as acacia or pectin slowly, so your own gut bacteria can make more butyrate over time.
5. Track symptoms for 8 to 12 weeks. Note bloating, stool pattern, and energy weekly. Most clinical benefits were measured at 8 to 12 weeks.

Butyrate FAQs

This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for individualized medical advice. Supplements can interact with medications and health conditions. Please talk with your healthcare provider before starting butyrate, especially if you have IBD, kidney disease, or are pregnant.