Study On Betaine Intake Levels And Its Related Factors Among 20-35 Year Old Males In A County

Objective:To investigate the betaine intake levels in the 20-35 year old male residents and its determinats; and to analyze the relationships between the betaine intake levels and the health indicators.Methods:The study was carried out in the Maternl and Child Health Hospital in the Tongdao County. And the random cluster sampling method was used. All the 20-35 year old male residents who were taking pre-marriage medical examination in this hospital from December 2009 to March 2010 were included as participants. Data were collected by questionnaires. Blood samples were taken from each participant for measurements of health indicators.Results:The daily betaine intake was 113.37±86.35mg/d in the 20-35 year old male residents. The daily betaine intake was significantly different in the groups of different educational degrees, occupations and income levels (P<0.05), The group who had accepted higher education took more betaine daily(164.41±117.06 mg/d). Also, the group with the monthly income beyond 2000 yuan had a higher everyday betaine intake (166.28±99.22 mg/d). Multiple regression analysis was then conducted, and the result showed that the higher the monthly income and the educational degree, the higher the intake of betaine.We also discovered that there existed negative correlations between the betaine level and the serum Triglyceride (TG), as well as the serum total cholesterol (TC), whereas there was positive correlation between the betaine level and the serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). When the betaine intake was divided into four groups according to the quartiles, there existed correlations between the betaine intake and the serum TG (rs=-0.287, P=0.000); and the betaine intake and the serum TC (rs=-0.321, P=0.000), as well as the betaine intake and the serum HDL-C (rs=0.547,P\0.000).The betaine intake was significantly differenct in different TG groups (P=0.000). However, the betaine intake showed no significant differences in different TC groups (P=0.438) and different HDL-C groups (P=0.064).Conclusions:1. The daily betaine intake level in this study was much lower than foreign populations.2. The main determinants of daily betaine intake were educational degrees, income levels and occupations.3. The total cholesterol (TC) and Triglyceride (TG) had negative correlations with the betaine intake level, whereas there was positive correlation between the betaine intake and the high density lipoprotein (HDL-C). This indicated that betaine might be a protective factor for cardiovascular diseases.