No association between dietary choline/betaine with incident cardiovascular disease

Objectives:
Studies implicate choline and betaine metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Therefore, this review article (meta-analysis) has been conducted.

Is there an association between choline and betaine dietary intake and cardiovascular disease?

Study design:
This review article included a total of 6 prospective cohort studies comprising 18,076 incident cardiovascular disease events, 5,343 cardiovascular disease deaths among 184,010 participants.

There was no evidence for heterogeneity among studies.
Only 2 studies provided data on phosphatidylcholine and cardiovascular disease mortality.

Results and conclusions:
The investigators found in random effects meta-analysis, incident cardiovascular disease was not associated with choline [RR = 1.00, 95% CI = 0.98-1.02] or betaine [RR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.98-1.01] dietary intake.
Results did not vary by study outcome (incident coronary heart disease, stroke, total cardiovascular disease).

The investigators found random effects meta-analysis did not support an association between choline and cardiovascular disease mortality [RR = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.89-1.35], but one study supported a positive association and there was significant heterogeneity [I2 = 84%, p 0.001].

The investigators concluded that there is no association between dietary choline/betaine intake with incident cardiovascular disease, but further research into choline and cardiovascular disease mortality are needed.

Original title:
Dietary Choline and Betaine and Risk of CVD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies by Meyer KA and Shea JW.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28686188

Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on choline and cardiovascular diseases right here.