4 Powerful Betaine Anhydrous Supplement Benefits & Uses

Betaine Anhydrous is a popular pre-workout supplement that’s earned quite a positive reputation among bodybuilders and athletes.

Betaine for bodybuilding improves hydration, stimulates water-based pumps, improves power, and supports protein synthesis. Furthermore, it’s often compared to creatine.

Betaine is also known as trimethylglycine (or, TMG), and it’s popular among health and wellness users to support heart health. Let’s take a closer look at the impressive betaine anhydrous supplement!

What Is Betaine Anhydrous?

Betaine consists of the amino acid glycine with three methyl groups attached. In fact, this is where the name trimethylglycine comes from. Additionally, it's found in foods such as spinach, quinoa, and beets, consequently the name betaine.

In fact, the names betaine anhydrous, betaine, trimethylglycine, and TMG are all interchangeable. Finally, betaine is a metabolite of choline.

The Benefits Of Betaine Anhydrous

Here are the benefits of this exciting supplement:

• Betaine attracts water into the muscle cells.
• Betaine improves cellular hydration.
• Betaine improves power & strength.
• Betaine supports heart health.

Let’s take a closer look at the functions of betaine anhydrous.

Betaine Anhydrous For Bodybuilding

Betaine acts as an osmolyte. This means it helps maintain fluid balance in the cells. Put simply, it pulls water into the muscle cells. This increases muscle fullness or volume. This process is also called water-based pumps.

Additionally, by attracting water, betaine improves hydration. Also, betaine for muscle building has become common because it supports power, strength, and muscle growth. (1)

Betaine And Creatine

Betaine is often compared to creatine. One reason is that both creatine and betaine improve power as well as strength. As we will see in the Heart Health section, betaine reduces levels of homocysteine. It does this by converting it to methionine.

Why is this important? Because methionine is one of the three amino acids the body uses to manufacture creatine. We can see that there’s quite a connection to creatine.

There’s more, both betaine and creatine are osmolytes. As noted, this means that they attract water into the muscle cells.  Creatine is the original cell volumizer through water-based pumps. Since creatine’s introduction, there have been several supplements introduced that promote pumps by attracting water into the muscle cells.

Betaine anhydrous, taurine, and glycerol are the most common. With this in mind, it makes sense to use products that promote both kinds of pumps: nitric oxide and water-based.

You already know NO2 Black Muscle Pump contains several proven nitric oxide-boosting ingredients. To make NO2 Black even more effective, we also included hydromax glycerol to promote water-based pumps.

Additionally, Black Powder Pre-Workout has two types of creatine, taurine, and yes, betaine anhydrous. Now, this sounds like a  great stack . Take them together before your next workout, and you will experience huge pumps!

What Else Does Betaine Do For Bodybuilding?

Betaine anhydrous converts homocysteine to methionine. We have seen that the body uses methionine to manufacture creatine. If that wasn't enough, how does supporting protein synthesis sound? By converting homocysteine to methionine, betaine anhydrous helps stimulate protein synthesis. This is because methionine has an important role in the “translation” step of this critical process.

Protein synthesis is a direct activator of muscle growth. Therefore, the betaine anhydrous muscle building effect is directly stimulated by its role as a methyl donor. (2)

Betaine And Pre-Workouts

As noted above, you’ll find betaine in Black Powder Pre-Workout. Using betaine pre-workout makes sense because you will get the most out of this compound when used as part of your pre-training preparations.

Since it’s an osmolyte, you’ll want to use it with other osmolytes such as creatine. You’ll find two types of creatine in Black Powder.

If you want serious pumps when you train, stack Black Powder with our innovative NO2 Black Muscle Pump. If you want great pumps, this is the product for you. Betaine anhydrous works synergistically with the pump enhancers in NO2 Black. The mix of osmolytes and nitric oxide enhancers creates a blend of ingredients that stimulates both nitric oxide-based and water-based pumps.

Additionally, there are even more benefits. Since nitric oxide increases blood flow, nutrients transport to the working muscles faster. Not to mention, waste products are removed faster. This improves performance and speeds recovery between sets.

Betaine And Heart Health

Betaine anhydrous has FDA approval to treat high levels of homocysteine, a non-proteinogenic amino acid. High amounts of homocysteine are associated with heart disease because it contributes to clogged, hard arteries.

Additionally, high amounts of this compound lead to bone and eye problems. Betaine converts homocysteine to methionine through its role as a methyl donor. This is important for heart health.

Also, betaine in its role as a methyl donor increases SAM-e or s-adenosylmethionine. SAM-e is produced from methionine and ATP. Betaine plays a role in a process called the SAM-e cycle.

Another methylation function that SAM-e is involved in is the metabolism of choline. It’s also involved in the synthesis and inactivation of neurotransmitters such as serotonin, histamine, noradrenaline, adrenaline, and dopamine. It is This means that betaine indirectly supports the functions of SAM-e. (3,4,5,6)

Betaine Anhydrous Research

Since the rise of betaine in bodybuilding supplements, more research has been conducted to determine its effectiveness. Here’s a study conducted in 2013 that sums up the benefits of betaine for bodybuilding. (7)

The Effects Of Betaine On Body Composition, Performance, And Homocysteine Thiolactone

This study has earned quite a bit of attention. One of the reasons is that this study featured test subjects with more training experience than used in previous studies.

Why is this important? Test subjects who are past the impressive first-year gains are the best choice to determine the efficacy of compounds such as betaine.

Betaine Study Parameters

For this study, the researchers chose 23 male test subjects. Each subject had an average of 5 years of training experience. All subjects had approximately 17% body fat. This study used a 6-week periodized training program. Of the 23 test subjects, 12 were given a placebo while 11 were given 2.5g betaine.

This dose was administered in two 1.25g doses per day. The following parameters were measured:

• Arm and Thigh Cross-Sectional Area (girth and skinfold measurements)
• Body density for Fat Mass and Lean Body Mass (calipers)
• Performance (vertical jump, 1RM bench press, and 1RM back squat)
• Changes in training volume
• Changes in urinary homocysteine levels (HCTL)

Here are the results of the Betaine Study:

• There was a significant improvement in body composition for the betaine group. (-3% body fat. +5.3 lbs lean muscle mass, -6.4 lbs fat mass) There was no significant improvement for the placebo group.
• Also, there was a significant improvement in Arm Cross-Sectional Area size in the betaine group. There was no significant improvement in the placebo group.
• There was a significant improvement in Bench Press training volume compared to the placebo group. Levels of homocysteine levels increased over two weeks and remained elevated for the placebo group only.

Additionally:

• Both groups increased Back Squat training volume.
• There was no significant change in the Thigh Cross-Sectional Area between groups.
• While there were no significant differences in performance variables, vertical jump improved slightly in the betaine group.

Conclusion of Study:

It was concluded that six weeks of 2.5g betaine per day may improve body composition, bench press volume, and arm size. Also, betaine may prevent homocysteine increase and may improve power.

Betaine Anhydrous Dosage

The clinically effective dose of betaine for bodybuilding is at least 1000mg. A common dosage is 2000mg. Both dosage levels are available in Black Powder Pre-Workout because it features flexible dosing. You can use 1 scoop if you want a milder stim effect and you’ll get a 1000mg betaine dose. If you like the most intense effect possible from your pre-workout, use 2 scoops and get a betaine dose of 2000 mg.

The MRI Performance Black Powder formula is all about helping you build, focus on, and endure your next workout. We chose to include Creatine Magnapower in the Muscle Feed matrix because we are committed to providing quality products with superior ingredients.

Black Powder has a 100% transparent label with no fillers or proprietary blends.

To view the Black Powder pre-workout and the fully transparent supplement label CLICK HERE !

In Summary

There’s no doubt that a betaine anhydrous supplement is an effective addition to your supplement arsenal. No doubt the best way to get it is in a pre-workout. NO2 Black Pre-Workout is the best pre-workout on the market. Stacked with NO2 Black Muscle Pump, you have a powerful combination of ingredients that will deliver an unprecedented workout experience!