Unlocking the Health Secrets of Betaine: A Nutritional Powerhouse for Liver Support and Inflammation Reduction

Discover the unsung hero of nutritional supplements—betaine. As I, Damaris Murray Grossman, unravel the mysteries of this essential nutrient on the Mindfully Integrative podcast, you'll be surprised at the array of health benefits it packs. Betaine is not merely a liver booster; it's a crusader against chronic inflammation, a supporter of cellular regeneration, and a key player in the metabolism of homocysteine, an amino acid that, when imbalanced, can lead to serious health issues such as diabetes and heart disease. But our conversation doesn't stop there; we also examine how betaine can be a game-changer for digestive wellness, potentially easing discomforts like GERD and acid reflux by regulating stomach acid levels.

Feast on knowledge as we reveal how to harness the power of betaine through natural sources like spinach, beets, and sauerkraut, and why a nutrient-rich diet is crucial for overcoming deficiencies common in the standard American diet. Throughout the episode, I share valuable insights and recommendations for those seeking to elevate their health through mindful eating. So if you're ready to boost your well-being and learn how to integrate betaine into your lifestyle for peak health and vitality, tune in to this eye-opening discussion. Your body—and especially your liver—will thank you for it.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:53

Hi, how are you? This is Damaris Murray Grossman and this is Mindfully Integrative, and today we're talking about betaine, which is a source of antioxidant and mineral, and so I'm doing a series on vitamins, minerals and amino acids and nutritional needs that your body may need. So this vitamin-like nutrition helps with making more choline and betaine is used for developing and increasing more liver function, cellular regeneration, cellular division with that and carnitine production would help with prevention of chronic disease inflammatory process, and it's originally used in the body to. This amino acid is used for um homocysteine um process, so that it does not um cause inflammatory um condition, and homocysteine is a indicator for showing um, an inflammation within the body. It's usually used for treating homocystinuria, which is increased homocysteine within the blood or the urine, and it's the betatine it helps lower that. It helps lower this condition because when it's finally been approved that it's, usually it shows high level in the urine individuals. When they have this high level in the urine, the, it shows that there's a chronic um inflammatory process, either in the kidneys, either they have diabetes, they have cardiac disease and other inflammatory markers in liver disease, things, things of that nature. And it helps with, you know, breaking up and metabolizing things, especially if someone has, like fatty liver, metabolic health problems, and you know it's pretty useful. So it's one that can be used Now first off, like I say, with anything else, instead of a supplement. You know what are you putting in your body and how do you get this source. So it's big benefits. It's like anti-inflammatory antioxidant. So it's really going to help you get to get that inflammatory process, the bad inflammation within that's causing that chronic disease, whether it's cardiac, whether it's inflammatory in the stomach, whether it's inflammatory in the kidneys or just circulatory throughout, causing you some discomfort. It will also help with the stomach acid within the body. Usually there's a lot of GERD reflux. Usually there's a lot of GERD reflux.

Speaker 1: 3:30

Betatine support is usually helping with those individuals that have either high or low. You know you obviously want to make sure that that's at the right level. Some people think that when they have reflux that it's actually due to too high acidity and actually it's probably because they have too low stomach acid or very high amounts of stress and they may not be digesting protein properly. So you know it's called betatine hydrochloride. You know that can cause that's what's actually, if it's not at the right level, maybe causing people some stomach problems. So you know that has to be looked into.

Speaker 1: 4:08

And then also some anything else that's underlying, you know, if you put in the right foods in your body. But you know, still see, you know, is there a peptic ulcer? Is it H pylori? Is there, you know, low acid, which is the hypochloridia? Is there some sort of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth? Is there canadilla? Is there a mold or infection there? That you might not know of?

Speaker 1: 4:33

But you know the betaine can be found in foods and the food sources that you can find it are in spinach beets, like a sauerkraut. If you want to do you, just made it, heat it up in a salad. You know, make it up in a salad. Any sort of bone broth, sweet potato, fish, beef liver, mushrooms. I enjoy doing mushroom blends or green blends because you know that will give you more options for inflammatory options. You know, granted, you know not that those are the solutions, but you know they will help lower and modulate the inflammatory process within the body. So there's some good mushroom blends for immunity and for inflammation and there's some good green pack that I would recommend.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Not that, you know, I think that you have to take it, but it's just as an option, especially because the individuals in our standard American diet do not get enough nutritional value and nutritional needs. So that's why I recommend it. So that's the benefit of each. It's not something that you absolutely have to have, but it's just something that I recommend. Now, the only thing I would say those that cannot have this kind of betaine it has to make sure that they don't have severe peptic ulcer problems or have had been a drinking alcoholic or stomach cancer.

Speaker 1: 5:46

Then this has to be avoided because it can actually increase your stomach acid. So we want to make sure that this is regulated properly and you're being seen by the professional, so you know it's important, but just like anything else, it has to be in balance. And then any individual that's breastfeeding or pregnant, I wouldn't recommend. You know, because you're ready when you're pregnant. If you know or know a family member that's been, you're already going to have that upset stomach because you already have the baby pushing up on the belly, so it's going to cause even more upset stomach. So that's not one that's recommended. If you have any other questions, reach out to me and I'll talk with you soon. Have a great day.