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.

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 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.

Taking betaine supplements may raise levels of betaine and some related compounds in your blood, slightly increase your 'bad' cholesterol, and lower a harmful substance called homocysteine — but it’s not clear if this is good or bad for your health.

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 supplements doesn’t change your ‘good’ cholesterol or fat levels in the blood, but it might lower your ‘bad’ cholesterol without messing up anything else in your lipid system.