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Betaine HCl

Supplement digestive acid gut
Aka: betaine hydrochloride
Brands seen in Singapore: NOW Foods, Doctor's Best, Nutricost, Enzymedica, Thorne
Third-party tested: Thorne certifies other products with NSF Certified for Sport, but nothing for betaine hcl.Certification is granted per product, so check the tub you actually own. Not being listed is not the same as failing.
Not medical advice. Check with your doctor or pharmacist before you start, stop or change the timing of anything you take.
How to use
What it’s for
Brief stomach re-acidification when acid is low
When to take
Trials dosed 1500 mg with water, not with a meal
Take with
90 ml of water in the trial that measured gastric ph
Pros & cons
Pros
  • Lowered gastric ph by 4.5 units in a 6-person trial
  • Onset was fast — mean 6.3 min to ph under 3
  • Restored dasatinib uptake under low-acid conditions
Cons
  • Effect is brief — ph under 3 for about 73 minutes
  • Trials were small and used drug-induced low acid
  • HSA does not approve supplements before sale in SG
Sources
  1. Gastric reacidification with betaine HCl in healthy volunteers with rabeprazole-induced hypochlorhydria (Yago et al., Mol Pharm 2013) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Six healthy volunteers … 1500 mg of betaine HCl was given orally with 90 mL of water … Betaine HCl significantly lowered gastric pH by 4.5 (± 0.5) units from 5.2 (± 0.5) to 0.6 (± 0.2)”
  2. Yago 2013 — onset and duration of gastric reacidification · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “The onset of effect of betaine HCl was rapid, with a mean time to pH < 3 of 6.3 (± 4.3) min. The reacidification period was temporary with a gastric pH < 3 … lasting 73 (± 33) … min”
  3. The use of betaine HCl to enhance dasatinib absorption in healthy volunteers with rabeprazole-induced hypochlorhydria (Yago et al., AAPS J 2014) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “coadministration of BHCl significantly increased dasatinib Cmax and AUC0-∞ by 15- and 6.7-fold, restoring them to 105 and 121%, respectively, of the control (dasatinib alone)”
  4. HSA Guidelines on prohibited and restricted ingredients in HS and TM (GL-CHPB-1-012, Oct 2025), s1.3 / Annex A · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “The objective of this guideline is to highlight the substances of concern when used in HS and TM and is not meant to be an exhaustive list.”
  5. HSA Health Supplements Guidelines (GL-CHPB-3-001 Rev. 020, Jan 2026), s8.1 · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “Currently, HS are not subject to premarket approval and licensing by HSA for their importation, manufacture and sales in Singapore.”
  6. iHerb Singapore — Betaine HCl category (default best-selling order) · read 2026-08-27
    what it says
    “NOW Foods … Doctor's Best … Nutricost … Enzymedica … Thorne”
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Updated 2026-08-30. Every line above traces to a numbered source. Kozen-X is not a medical device and does not give medical advice. It lists what published sources have written down — nothing more. A pair not listed is unrecorded, not cleared. Before you start, stop or re-time anything, talk to your doctor or pharmacist.