Choline: An Essential Memory Nutrient – Invite Health Podcast, Episode 65
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Choline is a necessary nutrient for your memory and is an essential nutrient for all activities in your brain related to your memory. Here’s the issue; most Americans – about 90% – do not get enough Choline in their food or their diet, according to NHANES. Additionally, older individuals and pregnant women need more Choline than the rest of the population.
Sources of Choline
You need to have Choline every day, as you lose it in your urine. Men need about 550mg and women need about 450mg, according to NHANES. Choline is neither a vitamin nor a mineral, but it is an essential nutrient. It’s loosely related to the B-complex of vitamins and is water soluble so you must have it daily. Without sufficient Choline, all of the other nutrients you consume for your memory or any supplement you take for your memory will not work effectively. It is extremely safe.
Foods that contain this nutrient include:
- Egg yolks
- Beef
- Fish
Choline was first recognized as an essential nutrient by the United States Institute of Medicine in 1998. Your body cannot make enough so you must get it from your food. But you would need large amounts of these foods to get sufficient levels; you would need three or four eggs to get enough Choline for your brain. Eight ounces of steak or fish gives you about 174mg of Choline.
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There are supplements that dependently supply this nutrient. Now, multivitamins generally contain some Choline and it benefits your heart, your muscle function, your nerves and liver. Choline typically used in multivitamins is choline bitartrate or choline citrate, which is good for your body overall. But this type of Choline does not get into your brain effectively. Other forms of Choline work better in the brain.
What does choline do for your brain?
Choline is tagged with a tiny molecule called the acetyl-group, which becomes a very important messenger in your brain called acetyl-choline. Acetyl-choline works throughout your brain and body. In the back part of your brain, the more primitive part that controls your muscles, balance, coordination, heart rhythm and beat, and your lungs ability to breathe, acetyl-choline interacts with a second neurotransmitter, called dopamine, for these functions. In the more advanced part of your brain, it is incredibly important to repair your brain cells, as some medications or prescriptions block the acetyl-choline from the transmission of messages between brain cells.
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Other Key Topics
- Alpha-GPC
- CDP-Choline
- Phosphatidylcholine found in Krill Oil
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