It’s likely you’ve never heard of butyrate - the mighty gut loving nutrient produced by our intestinal bacteria.
Butyrate not only nourishes the digestive system by maintaining the health of our gut lining but also supports the immune system, assists our bowels to pass stools efficiently (also reducing chance of diarrhoea) and is involved in regulating our genes! Some research also suggests it may help prevent colon cancer and inflammatory conditions such as obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.
Deficiencies in this nutrient are common -many people don’t eat enough of the specific foods needed by our friendly gut bacteria. I regularly discover low butyrate levels (after testing) in clients who suffer with abdominal discomfort, constipation, indigestion and gas.
Of course, this is not a well-known nutrient. You’d be hard pushed to find much about it in the health and wellness space, compared to equally essential nutrients such as vitamins A, C, D and B’s.
The good news is that we can stimulate our gut bacteria to make more butyrate by eating particular foods in the form of specific dietary fibre and resistant starch. These include green bananas, beans, peas, lentils, overnight oats, (cooked and cooled) potatoes or rice, ground flax seeds and stewed apple.
If you suffer with distressing digestive problems, then investigating butyrate levels is just one of the array of functional testing tools that I am able to use to find the underlying cause of your symptoms and my Gut Restoration Programmes can help bring your body back into balance. Book in a complimentary call HERE to find out more and see how I can help.