Higher dietary intakes of choline and betaine are associated with a lower risk of primary liver cancer: a case-control study

Abstract

The dietary intake of methyl donors is favorably associated with many diseases, but the findings regarding primary liver cancer (PLC) risk are limited. This study investigated the association between the intake of choline, betaine and methionine and PLC risk in adults. This 1:1 matched case-control study enrolled 644 hospital-based PLC patients and 644 community-based controls who were matched by sex and age, in Guangzhou, China. An interviewer-administered questionnaire and a food-frequency questionnaire were used to collect general information and dietary intake information. Conditional logistic regression showed a significantly inverse association between total choline and betaine intakes and PLC risk. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for PLC for the top (vs. bottom) tertile were 0.34 (0.24–0.49; P -trend < 0.001) for total choline and 0.67 (0.48–0.93; P -trend = 0.011) for betaine. No significant association was observed between the intake of methionine and PLC risk (P > 0.05). For individual choline compounds, higher consumptions of free choline, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin were associated with a lower PLC risk (all P-trend < 0.05). The studied associations were not significantly modified by the folate intake (P-interactions: 0.488–0.890). Our findings suggest that higher choline and betaine intakes may be associated with a lower risk of PLC.

Conventional and Unconventional Therapeutic Strategies for Sialidosis Type I

“…As an osmolyte, betaine increases the water retention of cells, replaces inorganic salts, and protects against osmotic shocks [35]. Betaine has been used with good results in a variety of experimental disease models, including AGA, alcohol liver disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, diabetes and multiple sclerosis [15,24,25,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. Although its mechanism of action is not fully understood, it is suggested to act primarily as methyl donor in several metabolic reactions, or to influence epigenetic marks.…”

Serum choline is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma survival: a prospective cohort study

“…Experimental studies have reported that when deprived of choline, varying degrees of liver damage and liver diseases developed, including elevated transaminases [11], affected lipid metabolism and transport [12], fatty liver [13], liver cirrhosis [13] and even liver cancer [14], whereas choline or betaine supplementation ameliorated liver damage [15,16], and choline supplementation increased global DNA methylation and DNA methyltransferase expression in HepG2 cells [17], which implied that choline or betaine might not only be associated with hepatocarcinogenesis, but also with liver cancer survival. To date, although scarcely, three case control studies [18][19][20] have evaluated the relationship between choline and betaine and human liver cancer risk, in which consistently favorable effects of choline were found. Of note, previous studies reported seriously insufficient dietary choline intake in Chinese population [20,21], and approximately 50% of the total HCC cases occurred in China [19].…”

“…To date, although scarcely, three case control studies [18][19][20] have evaluated the relationship between choline and betaine and human liver cancer risk, in which consistently favorable effects of choline were found. Of note, previous studies reported seriously insufficient dietary choline intake in Chinese population [20,21], and approximately 50% of the total HCC cases occurred in China [19]. No existing studies have reported the associations between choline and betaine and liver cancer survival, it would be a very meaningful topic to investigate the influence of choline and betaine status on HCC prognosis in Chinese population.…”

Betaine Inhibits Toll-like Receptor 4 Responses and Restores Intestinal Microbiota in Acute Liver Failure Mice

“…Many studies have shown that betaine has many pharmacological functions, such as antioxidant and antiin ammatory effects [20,21]. A retrospective study suggested that higher betaine intake may be related to a lower risk of primary liver cancer [22]. There is a favorable relationship between the blood betaine concentration and the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in community-based participants [23].…”