Association between serum choline and betaine concentrations and longitudinal changes of body composition in community-dwelling middle-aged and older Chinese adults
Rong-huan Zhong Physiologie appliquée, nutrition et métabolisme 09 January 2020.
Previous studies suggested that betaine and choline may be beneficial for body composition. But no longitudinal study has been conducted to illustrate whether choline and betaine have long-term effects on changes in body composition. This study aimed to prospectively investigate the association between serum choline and betaine concentrations and 3-year changes in body composition in community-dwelling Chinese adults. This present analysis used data from 1384 women and 554 men aged 40-75 years. Serum concentrations of betaine and choline at baseline were assessed using HPLC-MS. Body composition parameters, i.e. muscle mass (MM), fat mass (FM) and body fat percentage (FM%), were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the first and the second follow-ups.
After adjustment for potential cofounders, higher serum choline concentrations was associated with a lower decrease in MM in men (β=0.022, P=0.025) and a less increase in FM and FM% in women with baseline choline concentrations below 21.5 μmol/L (all P for non-linearity=0.007); higher serum betaine concentrations were associated with a lower decline in MM and a less increase in FM and FM% among men whose betaine concentrations were lower than 55 μmol/L (all P for non-linearity＜0.05).
These findings suggest that higher concentrations of serum choline and betaine may be associated with favorable changes in body composition profiles among men and women who have relatively low concentrations, especially in men.
Novelty bullets:
●Higher concentrations of serum choline and betaine were associated with favorable changes in body composition.
●Such favorable associations were more pronounced in men.
