Letters to the Editor Dietary betaine and inflammation Dear Sir:

We read with interest the article by Detopoulou et al (1) that reported dietary choline and betaine intakes and associations with inflammatory markers in healthy free-eating adults enrolled in the ATTICA Study. In that article, subjects with higher dietary choline and betaine intakes had significantly lower markers of inflammation in the blood. The report and the accompanying editorial by Zeisel (2) discussed possible mechanisms by which betaine and choline may be involved in reducing inflammation, including their important role as a source of one-carbon units for the metabolism of homocysteine. We would like to add 2 points to the discussion of this article and editorial. First, we stress the importance of betaine itself to human well-being; second, we express caution about combining betaine intake data obtained in different parts of the world. We suggest the possibility of a direct impact of dietary betaine on health because of its role as an osmolyte. Aside from being a