Clostridium Butyricum Gut Health Benefits

What Is Clostridium Butyricum?

Clostridium butyricum is an important gut bacteria. It is found in soil, cultured dairy products, and vegetables. It is also available as a probiotic dietary supplement. One of its key benefits is consuming prebiotic dietary fiber and breaking it down into short-chain fatty acids butyric acid (butyrate) and acetic acid (acetate).¹ 

Health Benefits of Butyrate

One of the key functions of butyrate is that it is the primary fuel source for the cells that line the intestines. Cells that line small and large intestines use butyrate to power every aspect of their function. Butyrate is used as the energy source to allow them to protect and reinforce the intestinal barrier, and regulate the rhythmic intestinal contraction that keeps the ingested food moving through the gut. Butyrate also produces benefits once it is absorbed from the gut. It helps support proper blood sugar, cholesterol, and fat metabolism. Butyrate and increased butyrate-producing bacteria in the gut show promise in digestive disorders and brain health.^2,3 

Health Benefits of Clostridium Butyricum

Improves The Gut Microbiome

Butyrate-producing bacteria in the human gut like Clostridium butyricum are called the “Sentinels of the Gut.”⁴ A sentinel is a soldier, guard, or other person keeping watch. 

Clostridium butyricum shapes the gut microbiome composition through its butyrate production and by secreting various anti-microbial substances. The effect of these secretions makes the intestinal environment inhospitable to unwanted bacteria and other microbes. And, on the flip side, it fosters an environment that is friendly to health-promoting, more desirable bacteria. 

Helps With Dysbiosis

This effect on improving microbiome composition makes Clostridium butyricum a strong candidate for improving dysbiosis, an imbalance of microorganisms in the intestinal microbiome. Dysbiosis can be caused by a lack of digestive secretions, diet, antibiotic use, and genetic factors. Dysbiosis is associated with alteration in digestive function (gas, bloating, indigestion, etc.), leaky gut syndrome, brain fog, metabolic disturbances, and other disorders. Clostridium butyricum is regarded as a promising candidate for improving dysbiosis.¹

Reduces Leaky Gut

In addition to its effects on butyrate production and microbiome composition, Clostridium butyricum also affects the intestinal barrier and immune cells.¹ This makes it potentially very helpful in the leaky gut syndrome.

The intestinal barrier is crucial for health, serving as a highly absorptive tissue that keeps out harmful compounds and microorganisms. It consists of three layers: the outer layer, which features mucus, antibodies, and antimicrobial proteins; the middle layer, made up of intestinal cells linked by tight junction proteins; and the inner lamina propria, a connective tissue layer rich in immune cells that perform various functions.

Experimental models indicate that Clostridium butyricum enhances the function of all three layers of the intestinal barrier by increasing butyrate production and boosting the production of tight junction proteins, which help reduce gut permeability.

Boosts Immune Health

Clostridium butyricum influences immune cells, leading to reduced inflammation and the release of pro-resolving mediators that enhance the health of the intestinal barrier.

Scientific evidence supports the role of Clostridium butyricum in protecting against damage to the intestinal barrier as well as promoting its integrity and if damaged, its healing.¹

Clostridium Butyricum In Experimental Animal Models

Much of the excitement and potential of Clostridium butyricum is due to results in animal models. In these studies, Clostridium butyricum has shown a myriad of health benefits and potential clinical applications. This includes the promotion of digestive health and gut barrier function, but the research is quite robust for many health benefits beyond these obvious applications. 

For example, metabolic disruptions in blood sugar control and energy metabolism are improved in these animal models through a very complex set of actions that both improve insulin action and energy production in the pancreas, fat tissue, and liver in animal models of human metabolic disruption. These studies open the possibility that Clostridium butyricum might help support blood glucose levels as part of a weight management program.¹

Human Clinical Studies with Clostridium butyricum

There have been 28 controlled human clinical trials with Clostridium butyricum to support its safety and health benefits so far. Most of these studies included other probiotic species, while seven of the studies utilized only Clostridium butyricum.

Among the health benefits noted in these trials with only Clostridium butyricum include an ability to prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea and digestive distress associated with antibiotic use, and produce improvements in intestinal barrier function, microbiome composition, digestive symptoms, the frequency and quality of bowel movements, mood, and liver function and immune function.^1,5-12 

The completed human trials to date are consistent with the larger body of data from animal models, but more clinical research is needed to determine the degree of health improvement offered by specific Clostridium butyricum strains as well as the proper dosage. 

References:

1. Stoeva MK, Garcia-So J, et al. Butyrate-producing human gut symbiont, Clostridium butyricum, and its role in health and disease. Gut Microbes. 2021 Jan-Dec;13(1):1-28.
2. Zhu LB, Zhang YC, Huang HH, Lin J. Prospects for clinical applications of butyrate-producing bacteria. World J Clin Pediatr. 2021 Sep 9;10(5):84-92.
3. Facchin S, Bertin L, Bonazzi E, et al. Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Human Health: From Metabolic Pathways to Current Therapeutic Implications. Life (Basel). 2024 Apr 26;14(5):559.
4. Singh V, Lee G, Son H, et al. Butyrate producers, "The Sentinel of Gut": Their intestinal significance with and beyond butyrate, and prospective use as microbial therapeutics. Front Microbiol. 2023 Jan 12;13:1103836.
5. Seki H, Shiohara M, Matsumura T, Miyagawa N, Tanaka M, Komiyama A, Kurata S. Prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhea in children by Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI. Pediatr Int. 2003;45:86–90. 
6. Tomita Y, Ikeda T, Sakata S, et al. Association of Probiotic Clostridium butyricum Therapy with Survival and Response to Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Patients with Lung Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2020;8:1236–1242. 
7. Imase K, Takahashi M, Tanaka A, et al. Efficacy of Clostridium butyricum preparation concomitantly with Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy in relation to changes in the intestinal microbiota. Microbiol Immunol. 2008;52:156–161. 
8. Sun YY, Li M, Li YY, et al. The effect of Clostridium butyricum on symptoms and fecal microbiota in diarrhea-dominant irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2018;8:2964. 
9. Yasueda A, Mizushima T, Nezu R, et al. The effect of Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI on the prevention of pouchitis and alteration of the microbiota profile in patients with ulcerative colitis. Surg Today. 2016;46:939–949.
10. Miyaoka T, Kanayama M, Wake R, et al. Clostridium butyricum MIYAIRI 588 as Adjunctive Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder: a Prospective Open-Label Trial. Clin Neuropharmacol. 2018;41:151–155.
11. Liu L, Chen X, Liu L, Qin H. Clostridium butyricum Potentially Improves Immunity and Nutrition through Alteration of the Microbiota and Metabolism of Elderly People with Malnutrition in Long-Term Care. Nutrients. 2022 Aug 28;14(17):3546.
12. Zhu W, Yan M, Cao H, et al. Effects of Clostridium butyricum Capsules Combined with Rosuvastatin on Intestinal Flora, Lipid Metabolism, Liver Function and Inflammation in NAFLD Patients. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2022 Feb 28;68(2):64-69.