There are various mechanisms, compounds, and processes throughout the body that while underrated, play a vital role in our overall health, doing every little thing from fighting diseases to improving gym performance.
An ideal example of that is betaine anhydrous, a naturally occurring compound formed from the amino acid glycine and three methyl groups. For that reason, it is also known as trimethylbetaine.
Unfortunately, many individuals aren’t even aware of what betaine anhydrous is or what it does, and as there are lots of great advantages, it is vital we discuss it.
This post will cover:
- What’s betaine anhydrous?
- Dietary and supplementary betaine
- Health and performance advantages of betaine anhydrous supplements
- Do you would like betaine supplementation?
Let’s get take a deeper dive into this obscure compound.
What Is Betaine Anhydrous?
As mentioned above, betaine is a naturally occurring compound that plays several essential physiological roles within the body. There are several types of betaine, with betaine anhydrous being probably the most helpful and the one you are more likely to search out in the very best pump pre-workout supplements.
Betaine anhydrous can be often called TMC, trimethylglycine, as its structure consists of the amino acid glycine and three methyl groups. It’s also sometimes known as the “methyl donor betaine,” as its health advantages are derived from its ability to donate its methyl groups. That is primarily done in the course of the methylation cycle, through which it donates its methyl groups to a chemical called homocysteine. This response then produces the amino acid methionine.
It’s only been over the past few years that the health advantages of betaine have been thoroughly researched, together with the results of betaine supplementation. The fundamental area of research has been centered around its relationship with homocysteine levels and the resulting effect.
While more research must be done, betaine anhydrous seems to supply quite a few advantages that virtually every population could be involved in. This includes every little thing from improving liver health to decreasing lung cancer risk to body recomposition.
In actual fact, the Food and Drug Administration has even approved betaine therapy in the shape of Cystadane to treat certain conditions attributable to high levels of homocysteine.
Betaine Anhydrous Vs Betaine Hydrochloride Vs Beta-Alanine
Before we go any further, we wish to speak about two compounds that sound just like betaine anhydrous and may sometimes be confused.
The primary one is beta-alanine, an amino acid and effective sports complement. In actual fact, it’s probably the most popular and helpful ones you’ll be able to buy and is usually accountable for pre-workout making you tingle and itch.
Nevertheless, beta-alanine has nothing to do with betaine anhydrous. The names type of look similar, and when you concentrate on that many compounds have quite a few names, it isn’t unheard of for people to simply assume they’re the identical.
The second is betaine hydrochloride (HCl) and has far more in common with betaine anhydrous. Betaine HCl is just one other type of betaine that helps control healthy stomach acid levels.
Nevertheless, betaine anhydrous is mostly considered the more practical compound.
Where Does Betaine Intake Come From?
Like many other compounds, comparable to the very best creatine, betaine will be synthesized internally in addition to through dietary intake. Nevertheless, our dietary betaine intake is accountable for nearly all of our levels. Probably the most common betaine-containing foods include:
- Beets
- Wheat Bran and Wheat Germ
- Spinach
- Spaghetti
It is also very easy to search out quality betaine supplements available on the market.
Mechanisms Of Betaine Supplementation
Making betaine supplementation a component of your regular weight-reduction plan can produce quite a few health advantages. We will go over those in a moment, but first, we wish to debate the mechanisms by which betaine supplementation produces these enhancements.
From health perks to improved performance for constructing muscle, it’s still not exactly clear how betaine anhydrous produces all of its helpful effects, but listed below are the almost definitely mechanisms that account for lots of them.
1. Decreases Homocysteine Concentrations:
Homocysteine is an amino-acids derivative and metabolite, which occurs between methionine and cysteine. When an excessive amount of accumulates, the degrees of homocysteine rise drastically, leading to quite a few health complications.
High levels of homocysteine have been linked to heart problems (there may be some query as as to if this association is causation or correlation) and an increased likelihood of kidney failure and other associated complications1,2,3. As well as, elevated homocysteine concentrations can result in an increased risk of liver disease, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and deep vein thrombosis4,5.
Now, obviously, none of those are good, so your body uses a process often called the methylation cycle to maintain your homocysteine levels low. On this process, the methyl groups of betaine are donated to homocysteine, causing it to remodel into the amino acid methionine.
2. Promotes Cell Hydration:
Along with being a methyl donor, betaine also possesses osmotic properties, encouraging water absorption. It acts more as a regulator in that it encourages osmosis, which is the strategy of water through cells.
When osmosis is functioning properly, cells are properly hydrated together with the removal of poisons, a cell washing of sorts. This results in cell stability, improved cell function, optimal electrolyte levels, and the encouraging and protection of enzymes and protein⁶.
3. Increases Creatine Levels:
Along with improved health advantages, betaine treatment has been found to also improve performance, which we’ll discuss more below. While it’s still not clear why this happens, certainly one of the leading theories is that betaine increases creatine levels⁷.
Creatine is a non-proteinogenic amino acid that’s primarily used to supply ATP during high-intensity training, comparable to strength training and HIIT. It’s probably the most well-researched and helpful sports complement we all know of. Whether you decide for creatine pills vs. powder, increased creatine levels will, no doubt, improve performance.
One thing to notice: It is not clear if taking betaine supplements on top of creatine supplementation provides much more of a rise in advantages.
What Are The Performance And Health Advantages Of Betaine Supplementation?
As seen above, betaine has quite just a few mechanisms that may provide great advantages. While betaine provides some amazing health advantages, there can be research that has been done that shows the direct impact betaine supplementation has on sports performance and your ability to crush your 6-day workout split.
Listed below are a few of crucial health and performance advantages.
1. Improves Heart Health And Decreases Heart Disease:
One in all the various risk aspects lowered by betaine is health complications from heart disease. This could include conditions comparable to arteriosclerosis present in rheumatic disease or congestive heart failure.
In consequence, many improvements are seen with betaine supplements, including increased libido, reduced blood pressure, less fatigue and greater work output, and an overall improved heart function⁶.
Improvements in coronary artery disease are also known to be improved by betaine supplementation. Again, that is on account of an increase in plasma homocysteine concentrations also present in patients with coronary artery disease.
2. Can Mitigate And Prevent Cardiovascular Disease:
Perhaps probably the most common reason that betaine therapy is prescribed is for the treatment of cardiovascular and vascular disease. As mentioned above, betaine’s advantages are primarily related to its ability to donate methyl groups and reduce homocysteine levels.
By maintaining healthy levels, betaine’s intake is capable of mitigate the negative unintended effects of high homocysteine levels and maintain healthy cardiovascular function⁶. A healthy heart is incremental in your ability to perform intense exercise, like these assault bike workouts.
3. Chronic Betaine Supplementation Can Improve Serious Liver Disease:
Liver disease is a serious condition that is attributable to the build-up of fatty acids within the liver tissue. One in all betaine’s quite a few mechanisms is acting as a lipotrope, a compound that forestalls the build-up of fatty acids. In consequence, studies have found that betaine ingestion can improve several variables, including improved liver function and decreased blood lipids and plasma cholesterol⁶.
In actual fact, there’s also research that shows betaine intake can improve alcoholic liver disease. One in all the results of chronic alcohol consumption is a rise in homocysteine levels on account of it mitigating the flexibility to supply a compound often called methionine synthase.
This sets up a series of reactions, which ultimately mitigates the methylation process, increases free fatty acids, and alters lipogenesis.
Subsequently, betaine administration can prevent this from occurring in addition to treat liver disease by improving the body’s methylation processes and decreasing homocysteine levels⁶.
4. Increases Anaerobic Power Production:
A study from 2012 examined the cycling sprint performance of 16 energetic individuals, each male and female⁷. On this study, participants performed 4 12-second max effort sprints either with the consumption of a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage or a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage with roughly 2.5 grams of betaine.
At the top of this study, participants consuming betaine improved each average and max power output⁷.
Separate research examined the effect of betaine supplements on experienced lifters, with a median body fat percentage of around 16%. Multiple variables were examined, including muscular power and endurance while performing the bench press and back squat.
After 6 weeks of betaine supplementation, the participants were capable of perform more volume on the bench press while also improving muscular strength⁸. This shows betaine can seriously step up your athletic performance game.
5. Improves Strength And Increases Muscle Mass:
Along with improving anaerobic power, betaine supplementation can be believed to impact muscle strength and endurance, making it great for improving exercise performance.
A study from 2009 examined 24 healthy male subjects and the effect that betaine supplementation had on their muscular strength and muscular endurance. After 15 days of supplementation, the topics were capable of perform significantly more squat reps when using 75% of their 1RM⁵.
Resulting from the improvements you’ll be able to see in strength and muscular endurance, betaine is a fantastic ingredient to search for in a pre-workout complement.
6. Improves Body Composition:
The identical study above that demonstrated higher work output also checked out body composition and arm size. All variables improved, including muscle hypertrophy, decreased fat, and improved body fat percentage⁸.
This study theorized that that is on account of betaine intake improving protein synthesis. Nevertheless, the researchers noted that for betaine supplementation to affect body weight, it must be paired with resistance exercise. That is on account of comparing their results with other studies that checked out dietary betaine intake and body composition with no resistance exercise. The studies that did not include resistance training saw no significant improvements.
How Much Betaine Anhydrous Should You Take?
With all of those great advantages, it’s likely you now need to take betaine anhydrous, if for no other reason than to see more gains in your back and shoulders workout. Nevertheless, that is where it gets a bit tricky, as there is not any existing set guidance on proper betaine dosage.
Further, there are several variables you’ll want to consider that might affect how much betaine you would like. Aspects to think about include:
- What does your weight-reduction plan seem like?
- Why do you should take betaine?
- Have you ever been diagnosed with a condition, or are you self-prescribing?
When you are diagnosed with a condition, your health care provider will likely provide a correct dietary supplements dosing scheme and should even suggest a prescription for betaine anhydrous.
Then again, should you think you would possibly just need some (perhaps you recognize you are not eating enough beets), you should purchase quality options online. Try the Best Beet Supplements available on the market. Generally speaking, the typical dose is 1-2 grams orally administered betaine along with nonetheless much you eat in your weight-reduction plan.
How To Increase Betaine Concentration Naturally
If as an alternative of going the complement route, you desired to try a natural way, you possibly can also easily try altering your weight-reduction plan. Sugar beets, a typical ingredient in natural or homemade pre-workout, are no doubt the very best natural source of betaine.
Also, begin to incorporate more wheat bran, quinoa, spinach, and spaghetti.
Betaine, Dietary Choline, And Levels Of Homocysteine:
Betaine and choline are sometimes spoken about and paired together. It’s because betaine is definitely a metabolite of choline, so the speculation is that a rise in choline will increase betaine levels. In consequence, homocysteine levels will decrease. Nevertheless, upon doing research, plainly, basically, betaine supplementation is superior.
Further, as a complete, it again seems as if studies that have a look at choline and betaine supplementation together report no improvement. This might be on account of altering the ratio of choline and betaine⁹.
Subsequently, we might advise sticking to betaine anhydrous on your dietary supplementation protocol.
Betaine And Conjugated Linoleic Acid:
Betaine and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) are one other pair of compounds often grouped together. Unlike choline, nonetheless, this pairing does appear to have a synergistic effect.
While studies have seemingly only been done on pigs, betaine anhydrous and CLA consistently provide positive results. Among the advantages include a better growth rate, higher insulin sensitivity, greater fat and protein metabolism (great for if you’re consuming high protein low fat foods), and increased body composition.
Why this has only been tested on pigs (to our knowledge) is unknown. Regardless, while it requires more research, it does look promising.
Is Betaine Secure?
The last query you most likely have is that if increasing your dietary betaine intake is protected. We’ve not seen any studies suggesting there are unintended effects. Subsequently, assuming you are taking an affordable dose, you should not expect to have any issues.
Betaine Supplementation: The Best Strategy to Devour It
Betaine anhydrous is probably the most effective homocysteine-lowering nutrients. As discussed, it plays an important role in quite a few physiological processes and has shown to be a promising compound to assist treat every little thing from chronic renal failure to improved bench press performance.
That is great news for the muscle you are attempting to construct following your workout split! When you’re involved in reaping betaine’s many advantages, particularly with regards to your performance within the gym, the very best technique to complement is by finding a fantastic pre-workout, like Gorilla Mode, that features it as an ingredient.
This fashion you will head to the gym with laser focus and an awesome pump, able to improve your strength, while also having fun with the opposite health perks betaine offers.
