Dietary Betaine Attenuates Obesity: Involvement of Hepatic MicroRNAs

Obesity affects more than one people in three and reduces life expectancy by 5-20 years globally. Dietary intervention is a preferred strategy for prevention and treatment of obesity. Betaine is a derivative of glycine widely distributed in food, and it functions as a methyl donor and osmolyte. Recent studies revealed betaine as a metabolism modulator, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, high energy diet-induced obesity mice were administrated with betaine at 120 mg/kg bodyweight daily by gavage for 4 weeks. By histology, biochemistrIP:y andhor182.75.148.10mones O: analysis,Fri, 04 Fbdietar y2022 betaine11:07:20 was revealed to attenuate obesity by normalizing glucose and lipid metabolsm significantly. Subsequenty, the hepatic microRNA expression was Copyright: American Scientific Publishers determined by real-time PCR. It was found that betaine treatment reversed the elevated miR-27a, miR-27b, Delivered by Ingenta miR-34a, miR-200b and miR-223 in obese mice. These data confirmed the anti-obesity effect of dietary betaine and provided a novel perspective for understanding its underlying mechanisms.