How to Take Choline Bitartrate Supplements or Powder

Choline Bitartrate supplements may offer key benefits to users looking to enhance their mental performance and improve neural health.

The active ingredient Choline is a nutrient involved in several brain functions as well as keeping your liver healthy and helping to transport fats in the body.

Not only may Choline Bitartrate powder support better memory, focus and cognition, it may also help to keep your neurons well-maintained and improve their ability to form new connections between each other.

But even though Choline Bitartrate pills are the most commonly used form of Choline in supplements and multi-vitamins, they is not as effective as other forms of this nutrient and they are associated with a higher occurance of side effects.

Other choline supplements like Alpha GPC and CDP Choline have been proven more effective.

Choline

Cholinergic Supplement

Memory

Brain Health

Cognition

How It Works:

• Supports memory and synaptic plasticity
• Raises acetylcholine levels
• Promotes brain health and focus

Dosage:

Between 250 - 1,000 mg per day

Safety:

Rated Likely Safe

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Why Should you Use Choline Bitartrate Supplements?

If you look at the ingredients list of many multivitamins and brain supplements, chances are you will find a small amount of Choline Bitartrate.

For many years, this has been the default source of the nutrient Choline that supplement manufactures have provided. Other forms can include Choline Citrate and Choline Chloride. Choline itself is an incredibly important natural compound that we use in our bodies and brains.

There are three main roles for Choline in the brain. The first of which is that it assists with the synthesis of cell membranes to establish structural integrity of your neurons. It also has an important signalling role for membranes and cholinergic neurotransmission. Finally, it is a major source for molecules known as methyl groups.

Choline’s most important role is as a precursor to the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine which is involved in the formation and recall of memory, our ability to reason, our capacity for focus, and in the flexibility, or plasticity, of the brain.

Acetylcholine is made from the small amounts of choline that we produce within our bodies as well as what we derive from the food we eat. Foods like eggs, beef liver, fish, certain nuts and some vegetables all contain some quantities of this nutrient.

But recent research is suggesting that the average person living the USA does not get anywhere near enough to support optimal brain functioning. If we don’t get enough choline from food, our bodies can only make very small amounts of this nutrient every day and not enough to keep us healthy.

According to Dr. Steven Zeisel, less than 10% of the population meets the daily requirements for choline consumption which is between 425 to 550 mg per day for adults. That means that as much as 90% of the population is deficient in this nutrient to some degree. Serious deficiency can cause problems such as fatty liver and hemorrhagic kidney necrosis.

But in less serious cases, it has been linked to memory problems, difficulty concentrating, depression, poor neural development for children, and premature aging. There is also new research that links age-related decreased Acetylcholine production and decreased numbers of receptors to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. All of these reasons make it a good idea to consider taking a choline supplement every single day.

Research on the use of Choline Bitartrate and other choline sources for neurological improvement is promising, however more research is still needed, especially large-scale clinical human trials. At this time Choline is available only as a health supplement, and the FDA has not approved Choline Bitartrate as a drug to prevent or cure any conditions.

Is Choline Bitartrate Powder a Good Source of Choline?

There is some question as to whether Choline Bitartrate is the best type of Choline supplement to be using.

It has been popular for a long time because it is very cheap to buy and manufacturers have easily been able to add it to their supplement formulas to say they are providing sufficient quantities of choline.

However, we should remember that this molecule is made of up two components – choline and something called tartaric acid. The “Bitartrate” in the name signals the presence of the salt tartaric acid which actually makes up 60% of the mass of this supplement.

In other words, Choline Bitartrate contains only 40% choline and is 60% Tartaric acid.

Tartaric acid is not dangerous and it is a common additive in supplements, but it does cause one unpleasant side effect: abdominal discomfort. When choline bitartrate is digested, it is broken down to a significant degree by the microflora (bacteria) in your intestines.

In many individuals, this causes an inflammatory response which is associated with stomach cramping, diarrhea and other digestive issues. Other side effects that have been reported include nausea, vomiting, increased sweating and a fishy body odor.

The likelihood of digestive problems increases as the dosage increases so if you are using a supplement that provides 20mg of Choline Bitartrate then you might never encounter these side effects.

However, if you are using a larger dosage (which would be necessary for most people in order to reach FDA established adequate daily intake levels), the majority of users report some episodes of abdominal discomfort. In some instances, the problems will subside after one to two weeks of consistent usage.

How to Avoid these Side Effects

If you have been using Choline Bitartrate supplements without experiencing episodes of stomach problems, chances are that you can continue using it with low risk of future problems. Everyone has a different bacterial make-up in their microflora and some individuals are less susceptible to experiencing inflammatory problems.

However, the consensus among most researchers is that Choline Bitartrate powder is one of the lower quality forms of this nutrient to use. Because much of the choline in this supplement is degraded during digestion, it has lower bioavailability than other forms which are known to deliver higher quantities of choline to the brain.

Two forms which do come recommended for improving memory and brain health are CDP Choline (Citicoline) and Alpha GPC (L-Alpha Glycerylphosphorylcholine). In both of these supplements, the choline molecule is phosphorylated which means it does not get degraded by the microflora in the gut the same way.

These supplements have much better absorption into the bloodstream and the both show good penetration of the blood-brain barrier which is important for any brain supplement.

Of these two supplements, Alpha GPC contains the higher percentage of free choline and it has been shown that brain concentrations are roughly equal to blood serum levels shortly after administration. In other words, Alpha GPC is effective at increasing choline levels in the brain where it can then be taken up by neurons and converted into the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine.

For the best results, most manufacturers recommended to use between 300 to 600 mg of Alpha GPC per day, though users often report taking much larger levels with no side effects. Always speak to your doctor before starting to use any supplement.

If you have had experience with Choline Bitartrate or other forms of this nutrient, please share your thoughts below!

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