Why Butyrate Supplementation Makes Chronic Gut Dysfunction Worse: The Data They Don't Show You — What This Means for Your Understanding

If you&#8217;re dealing with chronic SIBO, dysbiosis, or refractory IBS: Your gut&#8217;s problem isn&#8217;t that it produces too little butyrate. It&#8217;s that colonocytes can&#8217;t use what&#8217;s being produced. Adding butyrate supplementation without measuring oxidation capacity is guesswork. Elevated fecal butyrate, high plasma butyrate, butyrate in urine, and worsening of HDAC inhibition-related symptoms are all red flags that the system can&#8217;t handle additional butyrate. HDAC inhibition, when excessive, is damaging. It drives mast cell activation, neuroinflammation, epithelial instability, and potentially increased cancer risk in the setting of chronic inflammation. The real problem is upstream. Colonocyte bioenergetics. Mitochondrial function. Barrier integrity. Immune dysregulation. Dysbiosis is a symptom of these failures, not the cause. Conventional medicine&#8217;s butyrate recommendations are based on healthy-system models applied to broken systems. This is a category error with real consequences.