Re: SAMe/Leona/

[Guest guest]

Dear Arne and Leona;

I wanted to provide an article on SAMe and explain why folic acid or

betaine can be helpful to take with SAMe.

The following article does a pretty good job of explaining that if

you don't have enough folic acid (or betaine), you can run the risk

of having your homocysteine level go up. Both folic acid and betaine

(as Arne mentioned, a good source of betaine is fresh spinach

leaves) allows the liver to convert the homocysteine back into SAMe

again:

http://www.stoneclinic.com/sam_e.htm

" But the most important potential problem: SAM is converted into

homocysteine in the body. High levels of homocysteine may raise the

risk of heart disease. SAM-e is likely to promote higher levels,

though no one knows how high.

Interestingly, SAM-e breaks down into the potentially harmful

homocysteine, which has recently made press as a substance strongly

correlated with heart disease if it is left to build up within your

cells. The good news is that SAM-e, which is so good for you does

NOT have to turn into a toxic build-up of homocysteine. With the

proper complement of B-complex vitamins (especially B-6, B-12 and

folic acid, which are all methyl-donors), homocysteine is re-

methylated into good old methionine (used to produce S-Adenosyl

Methionine) or convert to the antioxidant glutathione. "

So Arne, if you are already taking folic acid and B vitamins I think

you'll be in good shape!

A recent article in Hepatology, describes homocysteine as a " bad

thiol " :

Mato JM, Lu SC 2005 Homocysteine, the bad thiol. Hepatology 41: 976-

979.

and shows how folic acid and betaine facilitate removal of this

harmful substance. Maybe with severe IBD, where folic acid uptake is

poor, betaine supplements would be more important as a " back-up " way

of removing homocysteine?

Lindor's group has shown that betaine is safe and useful for

treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis:

Abdelmalek MF, Angulo P, nsen RA, Sylvestre PB, Lindor KD 2001

Betaine, a promising new agent for patients with nonalcoholic

steatohepatitis: results of a pilot study. Am. J. Gastroenterol. 96:

2711-2717.

Betaine is about 0.7% of a spinach leaf.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;80(3):539-49.

Betaine in human nutrition.

Craig SA.

Danisco USA Inc., 440 Saw Mill River Road, Ardsley, NY 10502, USA.

stuart.craig@...

Betaine is distributed widely in animals, plants, and

microorganisms, and rich dietary sources include seafood, especially

marine invertebrates ( approximately 1%); wheat germ or bran (

approximately 1%); and spinach ( approximately 0.7%). The principal

physiologic role of betaine is as an osmolyte and methyl donor

(transmethylation). As an osmolyte, betaine protects cells,

proteins, and enzymes from environmental stress (eg, low water, high

salinity, or extreme temperature). As a methyl donor, betaine

participates in the methionine cycle-primarily in the human liver

and kidneys. Inadequate dietary intake of methyl groups leads to

hypomethylation in many important pathways, including 1) disturbed

hepatic protein (methionine) metabolism as determined by elevated

plasma homocysteine concentrations and decreased S-

adenosylmethionine concentrations, and 2) inadequate hepatic fat

metabolism, which leads to steatosis (fatty accumulation) and

subsequent plasma dyslipidemia. This alteration in liver metabolism

may contribute to various diseases, including coronary, cerebral,

hepatic, and vascular diseases. Betaine has been shown to protect

internal organs, improve vascular risk factors, and enhance

performance. Databases of betaine content in food are being

developed for correlation with population health studies. The

growing body of evidence shows that betaine is an important nutrient

for the prevention of chronic disease.

Publication Types:

Review

Review, Tutorial

PMID: 15321791

Betaine was originally identified in sugar beet (a spinach

relative), and that's how it gets its name. It's produced on a large

scale as a side-product from the sugar beet industry ... betaine is

the main contaminant of the sugar that they extract from beet roots.

Best regards,

Dave

(father of (19); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)

> I take one 400 mg tablet on an empty stomach (1/2 hour before

eating). According to the data presented at the conference,

you should also be taking folic acid and betaine (spinach works) to

balance the cycle. My multivitamin does have 400 mg of folic acid,

but I'm afraid my spinach intake is only once a week or so.

>

> SAMe is quite a bit cheaper on the web.

> Arne

> 53 - UC 9/77 - PSC 4/00

> Alive and (mostly) well in Minnesota

>