Choline Pills: Product Ratings & Where to Buy

Choline pills are a common supplement used for brain health with mechanisms of action linked to cell membrane maintenance and neurotransmitter production.

Choline is required by your neurons to synthesize Acetylcholine which is identified as the chief neurotransmitter involved in memory formation and conscious thought.

Taking choline pills may give your brain more of the raw materials it needs in order for cognitive activity to occur, while also contributing to better health and maintenance of the cell membranes of neurons and nerve cells.

There have been a number of choline products to hit the market recently, but not all formulations are made equally. Some types of choline can be cheap up front but are in a form that your brain cannot use in meaningful amounts.

Which type of Choline pills should you purchase and where can you get high quality supplements on the internet?

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

Top Choline Products* ❯

View User Ratings* ❯

Choline Information

Discovered in 1894 by Adolph Strecker, Choline was recognized as an essential nutrient by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine in 1998.

Choline appears as an essential element of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, which are both abundant in cell membranes.

Choline is also the precursor molecule for Acetylcholine which is involved in focus, memory, learning, attention control and muscle control. Finally, it is required to transport fats from the liver and is necessary in preventing fatty liver disease.

Adults are advised to get between 425 mg and 550 mg of choline in their diet per day, but only 10% of the population actually gets this amount. It is a water-soluble supplement which means the body cannot store it for long periods of time; you need to constantly replenish your Choline stores in order for your brain to work at full capacity.

Choline can be found in soy lecithin, sunflower lecithin, beef liver, chicken, some types of fish and eggs.

As a supplement, you will see Choline pills in quite a few different formats including Choline Bitatrate, Choline Citrate, Choline Chloride, Phosphatidylcholine, Lecithin with Choline, Citicoline and Alpha GPC Choline.

Each of these offerings has unique advantages and disadvantages, but we can generally rate them in terms of their potency, bioavailability, level of cerebroactivity, conversion to Acetylcholine and cost.

On the cost front, lecithin wins out but it is less than 10% actual choline which means you need much larger doses to see results. Phosphatidylcholine and the forms of choline bonded to chloride, citric acid and tartaric acid are slightly more expensive but have a higher degree of potency. However, their bioavailability is low and they are not able to significantly improve brain activity or memory function.

The highest quality choline pills for sale today are Alpha GPC and Citicoline (also known as CDP Choline). These supplements give you this nutrient in the form that is naturally used by the brain, cutting out several intermediary conversion steps. Alpha GPC and Citicoline are both more expensive, but they display higher levels of uptake in the brain meaning that they convert more rapidly and effectively into Acetylcholine.

Why Use Choline Pills?

There are several contexts in which Choline plays an important role, including brain and neurological health.

Choline can be converted into Phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin which are both lipids essential to the nervous system. They both act as insulators for the electrical circuitry of your brain, leading to more efficient neurological communication.

Without these essential insulators, the transmission of electrical signals in nerves would slow down and short out. These molecules actually make up a large portion of the weight of the CNS.

As mentioned, Choline also acts as a precursor to Acetylcholine which is a powerful excitatory neurotransmitter.

Acetylcholine is responsible for maintaining consciousness, helping you concentrate and think, as well as normal memory development. It helps to transmit signals from the brain and spinal cord to muscles, glands, heart, lungs, and the entire gastrointestinal tract.

Your neurons need Acetylcholine in order to encode and retain memories. If there is not enough of this neurotransmitter available, neurons will start to break down their cell walls to retrieve Choline by stripping it from Phosphatidylcholine.

Over time, this stripping of Choline can damage the membrane function and fluidity of your neurons, potentially leading to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory deficits. It is hypothesized that taking daily choline pills may prevent Choline stripping thereby ensuring there is always enough of this ingredient to synthesize Acetylcholine without damaging cell membranes.

Choline is also essential in maintaining proper liver health. It removes excess cholesterol and fats, avoiding the condition known as fatty liver disease.

A diet deficient in Choline will lead to an accumulation of fat droplets in the liver which can impair liver function and threaten your health.

Getting adequate levels of choline can not only prevent this, it is also able to reverse this damage should it have already occurred.

Studies have also shown that high levels of Choline intake can reduce the levels of inflammatory markers (including the C-reactive protein) by up to 20 percent.

Homocysteine is also another marker of inflammation which can be reduced by Choline. This supplement is thought to help ‘turn off’ different regions of DNA that are responsible for expressing inflammatory markers.

Inflammation is generally considered to be the beginning stage of all diseases and it is implicated as an accelerator of the aging process.

Research on supplemental Choline pills is promising but limited, and more research is still needed to determine all the neurological effects supplemental choline may have. At this time, Choline is available as a dietary supplement only, and the FDA has not approved Choline as a drug to prevent or treat any conditions.

Choline Pill Safety and Dosages

The Natural Medicines database considers Choline supplements to be Likely Safe and generally well-tolerated, especially by healthy adults.

Pregnant women and nursing mothers are often advised to take pills with Choline and Inositol in them because it has been shown to prevent neural tube defects in babies and promote healthy brain development in newborns.

The daily recommended intake of Choline for adults is 425 mg for women and 550 mg for men. This amount is what is needed daily to prevent deficiency and meet the dietary needs of the average person.

However, studies have found that larger intakes may improve cognitive function which is why some experts recommend getting as much as 3,000 mg per day from sources like Choline Bitartrate and Choline Chloride.

Part of this is because these supplements are not entirely choline but also contain other ingredients – i.e. Choline Bitartrate is only 40% choline and is 60% Tartaric acid.

These supplements are also known to be degraded by bacteria in your intestines, so a much smaller amount that what you take will actually make it to your liver to be processed into a form that can be used by your brain. If you’re taking Choline Bitartrate powder for the first time, it is often recommended to start with a lower dose as using this much all at once usually causes unpleasant diarrhea due to the degradation process by gut microflora.

If you are using some of the higher potency choline pills or powders, you will find that you need smaller amounts. For example, Alpha GPC has been found to be capable of producing improvements in brain function at dosages of around 500 mg per day.

When calculating how much choline to use, make sure to factor in your normal dietary intake of choline from sources like eggs, fish and meat. Vegetarians who are more prone to choline deficiency should definitely consider a high quality choline source to ensure they are getting enough.

Choline pills are entirely natural – even versions like Alpha GPC and Citicoline are compounds that are naturally found in the body and in our diet. As such, there is low risk of harmful side effects when they are taken in accordance with recommendations.

In very rare situations this supplement has been associated with increased body temperature, sweating, and loss of appetite. However, in general choline is one of the safest and most effective ways of improving your brain power and keeping your neurons healthy.

It is always recommended that you speak with your doctor before beginning any new supplements. Before you consider adding a high quality choline pill to your supplement routine, speak with your doctor to determine if this supplement is right for your needs.

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