Taking up to 4 grams of betaine a day might help lower a harmful blood chemical called homocysteine without making your cholesterol or fats go up—but taking more than that could raise your cholesterol and fats.

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, 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 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 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 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.