Betaine

Source: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements (2017).


INGREDIENT	Betaine Your body makes betaine, and it is also found in foods such as beets, spinach, and whole-grain bread. You get about 100 to 300 milligrams a day of betaine when you eat a nutritious diet. How betaine supplements might affect or improve your performance isn’t known.
DOES IT WORK?	Only a few, mostly small, studies have evaluated betaine as a performance supplement. Most of these studies examined the use of betaine supplements to improve strength and power performance in bodybuilders. The studies found either no performance improvements or only modest ones. Participants in these studies took 2 to 5 grams a day of betaine for up to 15 days.

IS IT SAFE?	The few studies in which athletes took betaine supplements didn’t find any side effects. But there hasn’t been enough research to know for sure whether it’s really safe.

BOTTOM LINE	There’s little scientific evidence to support taking betaine supplements to improve performance if you eat a nutritious diet.

REMARK	Many performance supplements in the marketplace contain more than one ingredient, and ingredients can work differently when they’re combined. Because most ingredient combinations have not been studied, it is not known how effective or safe they are in improving performance.