Butyrate — The Metabolic Powerhouse Fueling the Gut and Beyond

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid produced by gut bacteria that ferment dietary fiber, helps improve metabolic health by enhancing insulin function, regulating glucose levels and supporting healthy body composition
Unlike most cells that use glucose, colonocytes (the epithelial cells that line your colon) prefer butyrate for energy, converting 70% to 80% through beta-oxidation to maintain gut barrier health
Promoting butyrate production through fiber intake is beneficial, but only if your gut is healthy. If your gut is compromised, starting with dextrose water before transitioning to whole foods is recommended
Lifestyle factors significantly impact butyrate production, with chronic stress, smoking, excessive drinking and antibiotic overuse reducing beneficial gut bacteria and SCFA production
Excessive linoleic acid consumption, common in processed foods and vegetable oils, reduce beneficial gut bacteria, negatively affecting gut and metabolic health

Transcript

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0:00.0	What if the fuel your gut prefers could also steady your glucose, reduce inflammation, and help you manage weight?
0:07.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go.
0:15.0	No reading required. Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:20.0	Hello, and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:24.6	Today we're examining Beauty Rate, the short chain fatty acid your gut bacteria make
0:29.8	when you ferment fiber, and how it supports your metabolism, your gut barrier, and your
0:35.3	overall energy.
0:36.7	I'm Ethan Foster. You'll hear how beauty rate improves
0:39.7	insulin function, regulates glucose, and supports healthy body composition, and why your colon cells
0:46.5	rely on it more than glucose. I'm Alara Sky. We'll also outline when boosting fiber helps,
0:53.4	when it backfires, and a stepwise way to
0:56.0	rebuild gut tolerance so you can actually benefit from butyrate production.
1:01.0	Buterate stands out among short chain fatty acids because research links it to better body weight
1:07.1	and composition, improved lipid profiles, stronger insulin sensitivity, and steadier
1:12.5	glycemia. It acts through gene pathways influenced by histone diacetylase inhibition, and by activating
1:19.5	free fatty acid receptors in tissues like intestine, adipose, muscle, liver, pancreatic islets, and blood vessels.
1:28.3	Your colonocytes prefer butyrate as their main fuel.
1:32.3	They bring it across the cell membrane by diffusion and active transport,
1:36.3	shuttle it to mitochondria, and convert it via beta oxidation into acetyl co-A to generate ATP. That single pathway can supply roughly 70% to 80% of their energy needs,
1:50.0	far more than they tend to draw from glucose or glutamine.
1:54.0	When your colonocytes oxidize butyrate efficiently, they also lower oxygen levels in the colon.
2:00.0	That shift favors beneficial anaerobic oxygen levels in the colon. That shift favors beneficial
	...

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