Why You Need to Know About Butyrate for Optimal Health

Posted October 2020
2020-11
Cottage cheese, blueberries & walnuts on Corn Thins slices

A healthy gut means a healthy body. Having a diverse range of good bacteria or probiotics is the key for this as each different probiotic bacterium plays a different role in maintaining the health of your body. One of the important signals the probiotics send out (also called postbiotics) to optimise your health, is called butyrate.

Prebiotic fibre is vital for the health of your gut microbiome. Prebiotic fibre is not able to be broken down by your body in the small intestine and travel to your large intestine where the bacteria are able to break it down and use it as fuel. For production of butyrate resistance starch and pectin which is a soluble fibre are shown in research to be two important prebiotic fibres.

Resistance starch can be found in whole grains or whole containing products, which includes Corn Thins™ products. Other sources include oats, barley, green bananas, cashews, and legumes. Resistance starch increases when foods like potatoes, rice and pasta are cooked then cooled. Pectin is found mostly in fruit like apple, citrus fruit, berries, kiwi fruit and guava.

Butyrate has some powerful effects on your body which include:

  1. Reducing your risk of certain inflammatory diseases.
  2. Strengthens your immune system defence symptoms specifically enhancing macrophages and T cells response to any unwanted invaders.
  3. Improves how glucose is managed in your body.
  4. Encourages a healthy weight by reducing appetite signals. Butyrate produces hormones like GLP-1 and Peptide YY which are hormones which supress your appetite.
  5. Looks after the cells of your gut by feeding them which ultimately improves their ability to function. It helps to maintain the integrity of your gut lining which limits the ability of opportunistic bacteria from crossing this barrier and passing into your blood system.
  6. Is a pathway to make your feel-good hormone serotonin.
  7. Affects bowel movements to maintain healthy toilet habits.

 

Having inadequate production of butyrate increases your likelihood of inflammatory bowel disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer and insulin resistance.

Some easy meals or snacks to add which includes both pectin and resistance starch could be:

  • 2-3 Corn Thins™ slices cottage cheese and berries on top.
  • Potato salad with a kiwi on the side.
  • Fruit salad which includes apples, kiwi, berries with 2-3 Corn Thins™ slices on the side topped with nut nutter.

 

Take home message: Corn Thins™ slices are not only a great choice because they taste delicious, they support the health of your gut which ultimately supports the health and function of the rest of your body.

 

 

  • Article By:
    • Ashleigh Felth…