ReviewNutrients2020
Betaine Supplementation May Improve Heat Tolerance: Potential Mechanisms in Humans.
Review in Nutrients, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Betaine Supplementation Improves 60 km Cycling Time Trial Performance and One-Carbon Metabolism in Cyclists During Recovery.Nutrients · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Important bioactives carnitine and betaine in milk and dairy products: a systematic review based on text mining and topic analysis.Food science of animal resources · 2026Article
- Betaine in Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease: Mechanisms of Action and Therapeutic Potential.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Taurine and Betaine, Alone and in Combination, Mitigate Lysis of Canine Erythrocytes in an In Vitro Model of Iron-Deficiency Anemia.Veterinary and animal science · 2026Article
- Betaine: A Promising Natural Product for Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases.Current neuropharmacology · 2026Review
- Effects of shaving on reproductive performance and protein metabolism in bucks under heat stress conditions.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- An updated overview of alkaloids for the prevention and treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Current Status and Future Perspectives of Betaine and Betaine-Based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents: A Review.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Betaine Dietary Supplementation: Healthy Aspects in Human and Animal Nutrition.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Therapeutic potential of betaine and its derivatives in cancer treatment: a comprehensive review.RSC advances · 2025Review
- Recent Advances in Betaine: Extraction, Identification, and Bioactive Functions in Human Health.Food science & nutrition · 2025Review
- Betaine regulates the gut-liver axis: a therapeutic approach for chronic liver diseases.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Review
- Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for the rapid and high throughput analysis of betaine and trigonelline inFood chemistry: X · 2024Article
- Betaine addition to the diet alleviates intestinal injury in growing rabbits during the summer heat through the AAT/mTOR pathway.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Insect Peptide CopA3 Mitigates the Effects of Heat Stress on Porcine Muscle Satellite Cells.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Betaine as a Functional Ingredient: Metabolism, Health-Promoting Attributes, Food Sources, Applications and Analysis Methods.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Making the case for prophylactic use of betaine to promote brain health in young (15-24 year old) athletes at risk for concussion.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- The impact of betaine supplementation in quail diet on growth performance, blood chemistry, and carcass traits.Saudi journal of biological sciences · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Betaine has been demonstrated to increase tolerance to hypertonic and thermal stressors. At the cellular level, intracellular betaine functions similar to molecular chaperones, thereby reducing the need for inducible heat shock protein expression. In addition to stabilizing protein conformations, betaine has been demonstrated to reduce oxidative damage. For the enterocyte, during periods of reduced perfusion as well as greater oxidative, thermal, and hypertonic stress (i.e., prolonged exercise in hot-humid conditions), betaine results in greater villi length and evidence for greater membrane integrity. Collectively, this reduces exercise-induced gut permeability, protecting against bacterial translocation and endotoxemia. At the systemic level, chronic betaine intake has been shown to reduce core temperature, all-cause mortality, markers of inflammation, and change blood chemistry in several animal models when exposed to heat stress. Despite convincing research in cell culture and animal models, only one published study exists exploring betaine's thermoregulatory function in humans. If the same premise holds true for humans, chronic betaine consumption may increase heat tolerance and provide another avenue of supplementation for those who find that heat stress is a major factor in their work, or training for exercise and sport. Yet, this remains speculative until data demonstrate such effects in humans.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.