Betaine and homocysteine concentrations in foods.
BACKGROUND
Betaine (Bet) supplementation is an effective strategy for dietary treatment of homocystinuria. However,previous reports on diet therapy have only examined methionine (Met)and cystine concentrations, but not those of Bet and homocysteine(Hcy) in food items. We set up a hypothesis that there are some food items, which contain a small amount of Met, but a great amount of Hcy and Bet.


METHODS
We measured Bet and Hcy concentrations in 58 food items, which were regarded as containing low Met.


RESULTS
Products of wheat flour are rich in Bet. The amount of Bet in food items investigated in this study is much smaller than the dose used to treat homocystinuria patients. Vegetables contained little Hcy, however sprouted beans and sprouted alfalfa seeds contained ample Hcy.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with homocystinuria do not have to be too concerned about Hcy in food items because the amount is small. Therefore, we encourage homocystinuria patients to continue a low Met diet therapy without anxiety of Hcy and Bet, and if necessary,Bet will be supplemented.
Department of Pediatrics, HiroshimaUniversity School of Medicine, Hiroshima, Japan. akko@hiroshima-u.ac.jp
Akiko
A
Sakamoto
Yutaka
Y
Nishimura
Hiroaki
H
Ono
Nobuo
N
Sakura
D001622:Betaine / Q000032:analysis*; D005504:Food Analysis; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000032:analysis*
D006710:Homocysteine; D001622:Betaine