College of Life Sciences, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
PLoS One. 2018 Feb 20;13(2):e0193114. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193114. eCollection 2018.
Animal studies proved that choline and betaine have beneficial effect on reducing body fat. However, evidence in humans is scarce. We aim to investigate the association between serum choline and betaine levels with body composition in general population.
This is an observational cross-sectional study performed in 1081 subjects from the CODING (Complex Disease in Newfoundland population: Environment and Genetics) study. Serum choline and betaine levels were measured based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry technology. Body composition was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry following a 12-hour fast. Major confounding factors including age, sex, total calorie intake and physical activity level were controlled in all analyses.
Significantly inverse correlations were found between serum betaine levels and all obesity measurements in males (r ranged from -0.12 to -0.23, and p<0.01 for all) but not in females. Serum choline was negatively associated with total percent body fat (%BF), percent trunk fat (%TF), weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (r ranged from -0.11 to -0.19, and p<0.05 for all) in males and positively associated with weight, BMI and WC (r ranged from 0.09 to 0.10, and p<0.05 for all) in females. The negative associations between serum choline and betaine levels with obesity in males were more profound in those not on any medication than those taking medications. Moreover, obese males had the lowest serum choline and betaine levels, followed by overweight males, and normal weight males having the highest serum choline and betaine levels, especially in those not taking medications (p<0.05). Likewise, subjects with the highest serum levels of both had the lowest obesity indexes, especially those not taking medications.
Higher serum choline and betaine levels were associated with a more favorable body composition (lower body fat and higher lean body mass) in males and the favorable association was more pronounced in non-medication users.
动物研究证明，胆碱和甜菜碱对减少体脂有有益的影响。然而，人类的证据很少。我们旨在研究一般人群中血清胆碱和甜菜碱水平与身体成分之间的关系。
这是一项在 CODING（纽芬兰人群的复杂疾病：环境与遗传学）研究中的 1081 名受试者中进行的观察性横断面研究。基于液相色谱-串联质谱技术测量血清胆碱和甜菜碱水平。所有分析均控制了主要混杂因素，包括年龄、性别、总热量摄入和体力活动水平。
在男性中，血清甜菜碱水平与所有肥胖测量值呈显著负相关（r 值范围为-0.12 至-0.23，p<0.01），但在女性中则没有。血清胆碱与总体脂百分比（%BF）、躯干脂肪百分比（%TF）、体重、体重指数（BMI）、腰围（WC）和腰臀比（r 值范围为-0.11 至-0.19，p<0.05）呈负相关，与体重、BMI 和 WC 呈正相关（r 值范围为 0.09 至 0.10，p<0.05）。男性中血清胆碱和甜菜碱水平与肥胖的负相关在未服用任何药物的人群中比服用药物的人群更为明显。此外，肥胖男性的血清胆碱和甜菜碱水平最低，超重男性次之，正常体重男性最高，尤其是未服用药物的男性（p<0.05）。同样，血清中这两种物质含量最高的人肥胖指数最低，尤其是未服用药物的人。
较高的血清胆碱和甜菜碱水平与男性更好的身体成分（较低的体脂和较高的瘦体重）相关，这种有利的关联在非药物使用者中更为明显。
