

The New Zealand diet appears to have a daily intake of 298+/-4mg of TMG daily, mostly via grain products. Wine (processed from grapes) at an average 10-11mg per liter of wine (range of 21-211µM no difference between white and red apparent) Trace levels in corn, baked beans, onions, and tomatoes Īvocadoes (3-35µg/g ), with the best sources of betaines in fruits being proline betaine in mandarins (920µg/g ) and orange juice (700-780µg/g ) with all other fruits essentially devoid of betaines Plain crackers (1,000-1,300µg/g ) with trace levels in rice crackersīell peppers including green (24-31µg/g), orange (10-11µg/g), and yellow (10-26µg/g) with limited in red (12µg/g or trace) 1.2Sourcesīetaine can be found in the following foods (dry weight unless otherwise specified for solid foods):īran cereal (2,300-7,200µg/g) with trace levels in corn flakes īiscuits of wheat (1,900-2,500µg/g), chocolate (160µg/g), or plain (290-430µg/g) Other names for trimethylglycine beyond glycine betaine include lycine (not to be confused with the amino acid L-lysine) and oxyneurine. Whereas DMSP is structurally similar to TMG except for a sulfur replacing the nitrogen, trigenolline and proline betaine are both cyclical betaine structures. The term 'glycine betaine' is commonly used to refer to dietary TMG, and other betaines include 'proline betaine' (trimethylproline) found in fruits and technically trigenolline (found in coffee and alfalfa ) as well as dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP mostly in microalgae ) are dietary betaines.


TMG has the amino acid glycine as the negatively charged functional group, and on the nitrogen of glycine (which forms the core of the ammonium group) are three methyl groups hence the name trimethylglycine.
CAN YOU TAKE TMG AND DMG AT THE SAME TIME FREE
The term 'betaine' refers to any molecule with a cationic (positively charged) group not bearing any free hydrogens (in the case of TMG, this is the nitrogenous ammonium group) connected to an anionic (negatively charged) group. (the more technically correct, but less common name for TMG is 'glycine betaine') Due to this the molecule is commonly referred to as betaine. It was the first discovered betaine and the entire category of betaine was named after its initial source (beets). Trimethylglycine (TMG) is molecule in the 'betaine' class of molecules. For the purpose of this article the terms will be used interchangeably, and if betaine (as a category of molecules) or any specific betaine molecule that is not trimethylglycine is referred to it will be made note of. It is simply the glycine molecule with three additional methyl groups added to it, which gives the name of trimethyl- (three methyl groups) glycine.ĭue to its origin, the terms trimethylglycine and betaine are commonly used interchangeably despite betaine technically being a category of molecules of which TMG belongs to. Trimethylglycine (TMG) is a betaine molecule, and the first betaine to be discovered as a component of beetroot sugars but later found to be a component of the body under standard conditions.
