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.

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.

Taking a daily supplement called betaine (4–6 grams) can quickly lower a substance in your blood called homocysteine—within about a month—and keeping it up keeps the levels low.

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 supplements (4–6 grams a day) for a few months might slightly raise your 'bad' cholesterol by about 5 points, which could cancel out some of the heart benefits you get from lowering another blood chemical called homocysteine.

Taking betaine supplements for a few months might raise your 'bad' cholesterol a little bit—about 5 points—which could cancel out the heart benefits you get from lowering another blood chemical called homocysteine.