Role of betaine in liver disease-worth revisiting or has the die been cast?

Table 1 Clinical trials of betaine for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

Ref.	Patients (n)	Study design	Study duration	Pre- and post-treatment biopsies	Results
Miglio et al[5]	191	Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled.	8 wk	No biopsies	Improvement in liver test with betaine
Abdelmalek et al[6]	10	Polit, single-arm.	1 yr	Yes	Improvement in histology (3 did not complete study)
Abdelmalek et al[7]	35	Randomized, placebo-controlled.	1 yr	Yes	No biochemical or histological improvement but high drop-out rate
Mukherjee et al[8]	35	Prospective, single-arm cohort.	1 yr	Yes	Improvement in fibrosis in 62.9%