Choline: what is it, and why is it important for you?

What is choline?

Choline is a nutrient similar to B-vitamins, often lumped in with them, but not officially a B-vitamin. It helps our livers avoid accumulating fat, aids in neurotransmission and is a structural component of our cell membranes.

Add it to your diet!

The fact is that most consumers and even health professionals are “in the dark” when it comes to knowledge on this vital nutrient. Choline has several important functions in the body; it is essential for proper liver and brain function across the lifespan.

Deficiency typically results in liver and muscle damage in adults. Women with lower intakes of choline have a much higher chance of having a baby with a neural tube defect, since it’s highly involved in fetal growth and brain development. Achieving adequate choline intake during pregnancy and lactation is even more important since the mother’s reserves may be easily depleted (i.e. low intake by mom equals low intake by baby).

Intake and recommendations

The National Academies of Medicine (NAM) last reviewed and established Dietary Reference Intakes for choline over 15 years ago (see table).

The Adequate Intake (AI) is a calculated “target value” to achieve for optimal health. The Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) is the value a healthy individual should not exceed.

When these values were established by IOM in 1998, it was assumed that less than 5% of the population needed more than the established AI, due to genetic differences among individuals. Since then, it has been reported that as much as 50% of the population may require a higher level of choline.

Table 1: Dietary Reference Intakes for Choline as defined by NAM in 1998.

According to my recent research, over 91% of the population does not meet the current recommended intake (i.e. the AI). This is true even when the use of multivitamins are considered.

This is because most mainstream multivitamins do not contain it. Shocking, given the widespread insufficiency across the population and the link to neural tube defects in infants.

Choline is found in a number of food products, but it is most common in animal-derived products. Eggs, beef and pork are among the best sources of dietary choline. One egg provides about 125 mg or about 1/3 of the daily recommendation. Also note that it’s present in the egg yolk and not egg whites!  Whole eggs, therefore, can be a great option for health professionals to suggest to their clients to help them achieve desirable intakes.

Additionally, you can include the following choline supplements to your diet:

• Nutricost CDP Choline Citicoline and Nutricost Choline Bitratate, both ideal supplementation choices for people with vegetarian diets
• To support brain, heart, and liver health, you can add this high-quality supplement to you diet: Bulk Supplements Choline L-Bitratate
• Solgar Choline/Inositol maintains a normal and healthy brain and nerve function and supports energy metabolism
• Take NOW Supplements Choline & Inositol to support healthy nerve transmission and assist in fatty acid metabolism