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Betaine supplementation and the metabolic syndrome

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, page 771 (2011)Cite this article

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We would like to add to the discussion of the article by Schwab et al. (2011), reporting the long-term effect of betaine supplementation in young healthy subjects.

We are surprised that the authors studied young healthy subjects when the title implies that they were investigating the effect of betaine on risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome. Features of the metabolic syndrome have been associated with low plasma betaine concentrations and elevated urinary betaine excretion, with the effect being more pronounced in males than in females (Lever et al., 2005; Konstantinova et al., 2008). It has therefore been proposed that betaine insufficiency is a common feature of the metabolic syndrome (Lever and Slow, 2010). Possible causes are excessive urinary betaine loss and a reduced ability to endogenously produce betaine by choline oxidation because of mitochondrial dysfunction. Thus, metabolic syndrome patients could benefit from betaine supplementation. The results, obtained in a young, healthy, predominantly female and probably betaine-replete population, are not a reliable guide to the likely benefits of betaine supplementation for patients, and thus the reference to the metabolic syndrome in the title of the paper is incongruous.

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References

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  1. Biochemistry Unit, Canterbury Health Laboratories, Christchurch, New Zealand

    S Slow, M Lever & J Elmslie

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  1. S Slow
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  2. M Lever
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  3. J Elmslie
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Correspondence to S Slow.

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Slow, S., Lever, M. & Elmslie, J. Betaine supplementation and the metabolic syndrome. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 771 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2011.32

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