For Doctors

You may wish to review our site to determine if choline supplementation is appropriate for your patients.

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RDA and Choline Fact Sheet from the NIH (National Institutes of Health)

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-HealthProfessional/

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Choline’s Potential Benefits Suggested by Research

CHOLINE: AN ESSENTIAL NUTRIENT FOR PUBLIC HEALTH
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2782876/
Abstract: “Choline was officially recognized as an essential nutrient by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1998. Because of its wide- ranging roles in human metabolism, from cell structure to neurotransmitter synthesis, choline-deficiency is now thought to have an impact on diseases such as liver disease, atherosclerosis and possibly neurological disorders.”

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Potential Benefits of Taking Choline While Pregnant or Trying to Get Pregnant

CHOLINE: CRITICAL ROLE DURING FETAL DEVELOPMENT AND DIETARY REQUIREMENTS IN ADULTS.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16848706
Abstract: “Choline is critical during fetal development, when it influences stem cell proliferation and apoptosis, thereby altering brain and spinal cord structure and function and influencing risk for neural tube defects and lifelong memory function.”

THE FETAL ORIGINS OF MEMORY: THE ROLE OF DIETARY CHOLINE IN OPTIMAL BRAIN DEVELOPMENT.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212955
ABSTRACT: “Fetal nutrition sets the stage for organ function in later life. Numerous research observations point to the importance of choline for the developing fetus and neonate. Perinatal supplementation of choline enhances memory and learning functions, changes that endure across the lifespan. Conversely, choline deficiency during these sensitive periods results in memory and cognitive deficits that also persist. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that perinatal choline supplementation can reduce the behavioral effects of prenatal stress and the cognitive effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in offspring.”

PERINATAL CHOLINE EFFECTS ON NEONATAL PATHOPHYSIOLOGY RELATED TO LATER SCHIZOPHRENIA RISK.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23318559
Conclusion from Study: “Neonatal developmental delay in inhibition is associated with attentional problems as the child matures. Perinatal choline activates timely development of cerebral inhibition, even in the presence of gene mutations that otherwise delay it.”

ADEQUATE CHOLINE IN PREGNANCY MAY HAVE COGNITIVE BENEFITS FOR OFFSPRING. Article: http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/adequate-choline-pregnancy-may-have-cognitive-benefits-offspring
Excerpt: “While offspring in both groups showed cognitive benefits, information processing speeds were significantly faster for the group of expectant mothers who consumed 930 mg/day when compared with the group that took 480 mg/day over the same period.”

PRENATAL CHOLINE INTAKE INCREASES GREY AND WHITE MATTER IN PIGLETS.
Article: https://aces.illinois.edu/news/prenatal-choline-intake-increases-grey-and-white-matter-piglets
Excerpt: “In pigs from choline-deficient moms, their brains were about 10 percent smaller overall,” Mudd says. And 11 of the 19 regions were significantly smaller in choline-deficient brains. When Mudd corrected for these volume differences to look specifically at grey and white matter concentration, the story was the same. Piglets whose mothers consumed sufficient choline during pregnancy had higher concentrations of grey and white matter in the brain’s cortical regions.”

NEUROPROTECTIVE ACTIONS OF DIETARY CHOLINE.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28788094
Abstract: “Choline is an essential nutrient for humans. It is a precursor of membrane phospholipids (e.g., phosphatidylcholine (PC)), the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and via betaine, the methyl group donor S-adenosylmethionine. High choline intake during gestation and early postnatal development in rat and mouse models improves cognitive function in adulthood, prevents age-related memory decline, and protects the brain from the neuropathological changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and neurological damage associated with epilepsy, fetal alcohol syndrome, and inherited conditions such as Down and Rett syndromes.”

PERINATAL CHOLINE SUPPLEMENTATION REDUCES AMYLOIDOSIS AND INCREASES CHOLINE ACETYLTRANSFERASE EXPRESSION IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS OF THE APPSWEPS1DE9 ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE MODEL MICE.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28103298
Abstract: “In previous studies we showed that high intake of the essential nutrient, choline, during gestation prevented age-related memory decline in a rat model. The data suggest that dietary supplementation of choline during fetal development and early postnatal life may constitute a preventive strategy for AD.”

A HIGHER MATERNAL CHOLINE INTAKE AMONG THIRD-TRIMESTER PREGNANT WOMEN LOWERS PLACENTAL AND CIRCULATING CONCENTRATIONS OF THE ANTIANGIOGENIC FACTOR FMS-LIKE TYROSINE KINASE-1 (SFLT1).
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23195033
Abstract: “These findings indicate that supplementing the maternal diet with extra choline may improve placental angiogenesis and mitigate some of the pathological antecedents of preeclampsia.”

CHOLINE - ADVANCES IN NUTRITION
Article: http://advances.nutrition.org/content/1/1/46.short
Summary: “During pregnancy, women in the lowest quartile of dietary choline intake had a higher risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect (NTD)3 or cleft palate.”

Benefits of Taking Choline While Breastfeeding FEEDING A MIXTURE OF CHOLINE FORMS TO LACTATING DAMS IMPROVES THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28574475
Abstract: “Dietary choline is essential during lactation, but few studies have examined the implications of feeding a mixture of choline forms on immune function. In summary, feeding mixed choline diets during lactation improved T cell phenotype/function at the end of suckling and programmed a less inflammatory response later in life.”

FEEDING A DIET DEVOID OF CHOLINE TO LACTATING RODENTS RESTRICTS GROWTH AND LYMPHOCYTE DEVELOPMENT IN OFFSPRING.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27480608
Conclusion from Study: “The nutrient choline is necessary for membrane synthesis and methyl donation, with increased requirements during lactation. Our study suggests that choline is required in the suckling diet to facilitate immune development, and choline deprivation during this critical period has lasting effects on T cell function later in life.”

MATERNAL CHOLINE INTAKE ALTERS THE EPIGENETIC STATE OF FETAL CORTISOL-REGULATING GENES IN HUMANS.
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22549509
Abstract: “These data collectively suggest that maternal choline intake in humans modulates the epigenetic state of genes that regulate fetal HPA axis reactivity as well as the epigenomic status of fetal derived tissues.”