Tier 4 — mechanistic

Higher Dietary Choline and Betaine Intakes Are Associated with Better Body Composition in the Adult Population of Newfoundland, Canada

Xiang Gao, Yongbo Wang, Edward Randell, Pardis Pedram, Yanqing Yi, Wayne Gulliver, Guang Sun
PloS one 2016 11(5):e0155403

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 27166611
PubMed Central
PMC4863971
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0155403
Funding
Reported funding/support: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000024Canadian Institutes of Health ResearchMOP192552SunGuanghttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809National Natural Science Foundation of China31371757GaoXiangState Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China31330060GaoXianghttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004543China Scholarship CouncilGaoXiangThis project has been funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (operating grant: MOP192552) to Guang Sun. Xiang Gao was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31371757), State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31330060) and supported by the China Scholarship Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests
Reported disclosure: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Study snapshot

DesignCross-sectional study
ModelHuman participants
Sample3214 CODING study participants
InterventionHabitual dietary choline and/or betaine intake; no randomized TMG treatment
DurationBaseline diet and DXA assessment
EndpointsBody fat; Lean mass

What the study showed, in plain terms

Published in 2016, this source examined human observational and biomarker research. Design: Cross-sectional study. Sample/model: 3214 CODING study participants. The exposure or intervention was Habitual dietary choline and/or betaine intake; no randomized TMG treatment. Follow-up or treatment period: Baseline diet and DXA assessment.

Higher dietary choline and betaine were associated with more favorable body-composition measures.

Observational exposure analysis: residual confounding and reverse causation remain possible. Associations do not establish that betaine supplementation causes the same outcome.

Continue with TMG Data Center

Continue with TMG Supplement: Trimethylglycine Benefits, Uses and Evidence

Key findings

  • Higher dietary choline and betaine were associated with more favorable body-composition measures.
  • The recorded outcome domains were Body fat; Lean mass.
  • The exposure was observed rather than assigned as an isolated supplement treatment.

What this study can and cannot tell us

  • Observational exposure analysis: residual confounding and reverse causation remain possible. Associations do not establish that betaine supplementation causes the same outcome.
  • Confounding, dietary patterns, illness, medication use and reverse causation can influence an association. Blood or dietary concentrations do not identify the effect of starting a capsule.
  • Source basis: Accessible full-text extract plus indexed bibliographic data. Missing method details, funding information or participant denominators are not inferred.

Related papers in the corpus

Tier 4
Dietary Choline and Betaine and Risk of CVD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies
Katie A Meyer et al. · Nutrients · 2017
Tier 4
Dietary Choline and Betaine Are Not Associated With the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies
Elham Sharifi-Zahabi et al. · Journal of diabetes research · 2026
Tier 4
Association of choline and betaine with the risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: Meta-analysis
Qinglin Yang et al. · European journal of clinical investigation · 2023
Tier 4
Association of choline and betaine levels with cancer incidence and survival: A meta-analysis
Jiyoung Youn et al. · Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2019

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction Dr. Amr Yasser, PhDCardiometabolic, Musculoskeletal, Gut & Bioavailability Dr. Abdulla Mostafa, PhDCellular Senescence, Neurological, Mitochondrial & Brain-Ageing Biology