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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Martinez-Guino LAuthorDe Nigris VAuthorGonzález-Franquesa AAuthorGarcía-Rovés PmAuthor

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April 28, 2016
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Article

Dietary betaine supplementation increases Fgf21 levels to improve glucose homeostasis and reduce hepatic lipid accumulation in mice

Publicated to:Diabetes. 65 (4): 902-912 - 2016-01-01 65(4), DOI: 10.2337/db15-1094

Authors: Ejaz A., Martinez-Guino L., Goldfine A.B., Ribas-Aulinas F., De Nigris V., Ribó S., Gonzalez-Franquesa A., Garcia-Roves P.M., Li E., Dreyfuss J.M., Gall W., Kim J.K., Bottiglieri T., Villarroya F., Gerszten R.E., Patti M.E., Lerin C.

Affiliations

Baylor Res Inst, Inst Metab Dis, Dallas, TX USA - Author
Boston Univ, Dept Biomed Engn, Boston, MA 02215 USA - Author
CIBER Fisiopatol Obesidad & Nutr, Barcelona, Spain - Author
CIBERDEM, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Harvard Univ, Sch Med, Boston, MA USA - Author
Hosp St Joan de Deu, Endocrinol Sect, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Inst Invest Biomed August Pi Sunyer, Diabet & Obes Lab, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Joslin Diabet Ctr, Div Res, 1 Joslin Pl, Boston, MA 02215 USA - Author
Massachusetts Gen Hosp, Boston, MA 02114 USA - Author
Metabolon Inc, Durham, NC USA - Author
Univ Barcelona, Dept Physiol Sci 2, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Barcelona, Inst Biomed, Dept Biochem & Mol Biol, Barcelona, Spain - Author
Univ Massachusetts, Sch Med, Program Mol Med, Worcester, MA USA - Author
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Abstract

Identifying markers of human insulin resistance may permit development of new approaches for treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes. To this end, we analyzed the fasting plasma metabolome in metabolically characterized human volunteers across a spectrum of insulin resistance. We demonstrate that plasma betaine levels are reduced in insulin-resistant humans and correlate closely with insulin sensitivity. Moreover, betaine administration to mice with diet-induced obesity prevents the development of impaired glucose homeostasis, reduces hepatic lipid accumulation, increases white adipose oxidative capacity, and enhances whole-body energy expenditure. In parallel with these beneficial metabolic effects, betaine supplementation robustly increased hepatic and circulating fibroblast growth factor (Fgf)21 levels. Betaine administration failed to improve glucose homeostasis and liver fat content in Fgf21(-/-) mice, demonstrating that Fgf21 is necessary for betaine's beneficial effects. Together, these data indicate that dietary betaine increases Fgf21 levels to improve metabolic health in mice and suggest that betaine supplementation merits further investigation as a supplement for treatment or prevention of type 2 diabetes in humans.© 2016 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

Keywords

Good health and well-being

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Diabetes due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2016, it was in position 9/138, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Endocrinology & Metabolism.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.01. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.4 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-08-11, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 70
  • Scopus: 48
  • Europe PMC: 44
  • Open Alex: 94

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-08-11:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 78.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 78 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 9.7.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 14 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 3 - Good Health And Well-being, with a probability of 54% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: United States of America.