"Everyone has their own burden to bear" is a statement that people like to make when they talk about illness, unexpected terrible events, arguments, but also interpersonal issues. This is intended to reassure "everyone", because regardless of the size of the burden, it affects each and every one of us. No one is exempt. For some it is bigger, for others smaller. Nevertheless, we are all in the same boat. With this article, we want to get into a boat in which over 600 million people around the world are already suffering. Overweight and obesity. In these people, excess fat accumulates in the body, which ultimately leads to obesity, which is now recognized as a chronic disease. In addition, overweight goes hand in hand with several health problems such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Both therefore pose a serious threat to health and physical well-being and should be avoided at all costs.
Objective – Betaine as a weapon against obesity
In order to save this over-laden boat from sinking, several methods for treating overweight and obesity have already been tried. Currently, increasing attention is being paid to effective weight-loss strategies, such as lifestyle changes or dietary measures. But newer drugs, such as Ozempic, also play a role.
Dietary supplements made from natural products have already made a great contribution to preventing obesity. A study by Gao and colleagues in 2019 used a molecule called betaines This substance has already shown a weight-loss effect in several other studies. However, the results in human studies were inconsistent and sometimes even controversial. Therefore, the results of these reports on the effects of betaine in humans had to be objectively reviewed and summarized.
material and methods
Right at the beginning, the legitimate question arises as to how one can tackle such a contradictory problem. But the solution is relatively simple. In order to be able to evaluate the role of betaine in obesity, the entire literature was systematically reviewed and a meta-analysis on betaine and its effects on humans was carried out. Before we dive straight into the results, we should first clarify what a meta-analysis actually is. It is by no means an everyday term. When normal mortals - people like you and me - talk about research and science, they usually imagine the same thing: an experiment that either works or succeeds or fails. For an expert, this is by no means the case. Quite the opposite. In addition to such simple study models, there are also research projects that summarize several of these works.
An example: The gold standard - the winner of the gold medal - among scientific experiments is the randomized controlled trial, or RCT for short. In this trial, a number of people are randomly assigned (randomized) to a treatment group and a control group (hence controlled) and compared with each other. The catch with these RCTs is that the number of people examined is usually small. That is why meta-analyses exist to solve this problem. They simply combine and evaluate several RCTs with the same question. Easier said than done. A lot of work goes into these meta-analyses. It is not for nothing that they are considered the supreme discipline of evidence-based medicine.
Be careful, there is a risk of confusion. This study was about betaine-TMG. Betaine HCL sounds very similar, but has different properties
Results – Betaine as molecular Cillit Bang
Back to our betaine study. In this study, 6 RCTs with a total of 195 participants were summarized and evaluated. It was shown that supplementing with betaine significantly reduced the total body fat mass and body fat percentage of the test subjects. Although no changes were observed in body weight and body mass index, the results suggest that dietary supplementation with betaine could be an effective approach to reducing body fat. Almost like a molecular Cillit Bang, betaine as a fat remover is hot competition to powerful cleaners in the kitchen.
Nevertheless, the weaknesses and limitations of this study should not be completely ignored. After all, the amount of betaine taken varied from 2,2-9 grams per day and the duration of treatment varied between 10 days and 24 weeks. There is simply no "credentials for “ Perfect study. Whatever. Be it the little belly, a few extra pounds or just baby fat. With an honest look at the scales you simply have to realize that there is no getting around a change in lifestyle.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study provided further evidence that supplemental betaine was able to reduce body fat in human subjects. Betaine supplementation may be an effective approach to treat obesity and improve body composition. Nevertheless, the authors mentioned that given the positive benefits, additional RCTs with larger sample sizes are needed to gain further insight on this topic.
Sources
References
Gao, X., Zhang, H., Guo, XF, Li, K., Li, S., & Li, D. (2019). Effect of betaine on reducing body fat-a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Nutrients,11(10), 2480. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102480
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