When your body doesn’t have enough folate (a B vitamin), betaine can step in to help lower a harmful substance called homocysteine—kind of like a backup helper when your main one is running low.

If your body doesn’t have enough folate or has a common gene variation that makes it hard to process folate, taking betaine (a natural compound found in beets and spinach) can help lower a harmful blood chemical called homocysteine by giving your body another way to clean it up.

Taking 4 to 6 grams of betaine every day for a few weeks to months can slightly lower a substance in your blood called homocysteine, which might help your body process nutrients better—kind of like giving your metabolism a little tune-up.

If you have a specific gene variant that makes it hard for your body to process folic acid and your homocysteine levels are high, adding betaine (a natural compound) might help lower those levels better than folic acid alone.

When rats take betaine supplements, their livers make more of a special enzyme that helps clean up a harmful chemical called homocysteine, so less of it builds up.

Taking betaine, a natural compound found in foods like beets and spinach, can slightly lower a substance in your blood called homocysteine—which, when too high, might be bad for your heart. This suggests betaine helps your body process certain nutrients better.