Dietary supplements choline

In the feeding of animals, choline is often added to chicken and turkey feeds as a dietary supplement (37—39). Its use in catde feed has also been studied (40,41). 

Lecithin is often taken as a dietary supplement, since it contains the B vitamin choline. 

Acetylcholine Precursors. Your nerve cells produce acetylcholine from certain dietary precursors (choline and lecithin). Many early studies tried dietary supplements of these precursors. A precedent for this approach was established using the dopamine precursor, L-DOPA, a well-established treatment for Parkinson s disease. Unfortunately, this approach is ineffective in dementia. It appears that the daily doses of these fatty acid precursors needed to have any discernible impact on acetylcholine levels far exceed what an individual can reasonably take in a day. This approach has therefore been abandoned. 

Choline participates m normal fat metabolism and interrelates with methionine in a biochemical manipulation referred to as transmethylation. Choline, when in adequate quantity, cun replace the essential amino acid methionine when the latter is in limited quantity nr the reverse may wear, that is. methionine can be dismantled to replace choline. Choline delicienctes result in numerous degradalive physiologic changes in livestock. The usual dietary supplements are choline biianrale and choline chloride. 

In recent years, pharmaceutical patents accounted for almost 25% of the nonfood patent activity. Pharmaceutical applications, particularly those involving liposomes, should require increasing quantities of refined lecithins. An increased demand for lecithin as a dietary supplement is also anticipated, as the result of dietary reference intakes being established for choline. Besides being a multifunctional food ingredient, lecithin has the benefit of being a widely recognized health food. 

Severe deficiency of dietary protein produces a marked lowering of plasma albumin, and this is usually considered to occur as a result of depressed synthesis due to the deprivation of essential amino acids. A marked hypoalbuminemia in the rat and dog (F7) and in the cat (G24) has resulted from experimentally induced chronic choline deficiency. The effect was not reversed by a dietary supplement of methionine, but was reversed by choline supplementation. This situation bore no direct relation to the fatty... 

Nowadays, the term vitamin is understood to mean an essential organic compound, which is not synthesised in sufficient quantities or at all in the human body (or in most animals), and has therefore to be supplied through the diet or other sources. Vitamins are defined by their biological function, but not as a chemically uniform group of substances. In contrast to energy-providing foodstuffs, they are needed in only very small amounts. By this definition, there are 13 compounds or compound families known, which constitute vitamins for humans (Tab. 7.1). [9] However, there are additional substances of value as dietary supplements and with vitamin-like properties fatty acids (Vitamin F), lipoic acid, ubiquinone, choline, myoinositol and S-adenosyhnethionine. 

Maintenance of vitamin activity in the supplement is affected by temperature, humidity, addity/ alkalinity, oxygen, ultraviolet hght, the presence of some trace minerals (dietary supplements are usually combinations of vitamins, minerals and trace elements), physical factors such as hammer milling and the length of time the supplement is stored. For example, choline chloride can destroy other vitamins during storage. 

Pan Y, Anthony M, Clarkson TB (1999) Effect of estradiol and soy phytoestrogens on choline acetyltransferase and nerve growth factor mRNAs in the frontal cortex and hippocampus of female rats. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 221(2) 118-125 37. Joseph JA, Shukltt-Hale B, Denisova NA, Bielinski D, Martin A, McEwtai JJ, Bickford PC (1999) Reversals of age-related declines in neuronal signal transduction, cognitive, and motor behavioral deficits with blueberry, spinach, or strawberry dietary supplementation. J Neurosci 19(18) 8114-8121... 

The body can synthesize considerable choline, thereby reducing the need for dietary supplementation. 

Lecithin, of which choline is a beisic constituent, is a rich source of choline. Soybean lecithin and egg yolk lecithin have been used as natural concentrates of choline for dietary supplementation. 

Sanders TAB, Younger KM (1981) The effect of dietary supplements of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on the fatty acid composition of platelets and plasma choline phoq>hQglycerides. Br J Nutr 45 613-616... 

From 1952 to 1962, several experimental studies using rats fed a choline-deficient diet reported the development of aortic arteriosclerosis.171-173 Using rats fed a choline-deficient diet, Sidransky et al.174 reported that elevated (2%) dietary tryptophan affected the elevated serum lipid levels of rats fed the choline-deficient diet for 1 week. Within 1 week the added dietary tryptophan to the choline-deficient diet caused a return in serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglyceride values to levels present in rats fed the choline-supplemented diet. The significance of the alterations in serum lipids due to added dietary tryptophan was unknown, but it stressed that a specific amino acid (L-tryptophan) excess created a further nutritional imbalance, which could influence the altered circulating serum lipids due to choline deficiency. The alterations in serum lipid due to choline deficiency were thought to influence the development of arteriosclerosis in the rat, and possibly the added dietary tryptophan was able to prevent the effect. Further experimental studies are needed to determine whether this speculation was valid. 

Sources Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, Phosphorous, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Huoride (1997) Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin 85, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline (1998) EHetary Reference Intakes for Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, and Carotenoids (2000) Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Arsenic, Boron, Chromium, Copper, Iodine, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Vanadium, and Zinc (2001) Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate (2005) and EHetary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D (2011). These reports may be accessed via www.nap.edu A Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) is the highest level of daily nutrient intake that is likely to pose no risk of adverse health effects to almost all individuals in the general population. Unless otherwise specified, the UL represents total intake from food, water, and supplements. Due to a lack of suitable data, ULs could not be established for vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, biotin, and carotenoids. In the absence of a UL, extra caution may be warranted in consuming levels above recommended intakes. Members of the general population should be advised not to routinely exceed the UL. The UL is not meant to ply to individuals who are treated with the nutrient under medical supervision or to individuals with predisposing conditions that modify their sensitivity to the nutrient... 

Simon, J. B., Scheig, R. and Klatskin, G. Hepatic ATP and triglyceride levels in choline-deficient rats with and without dietary orotic acid supplementation. J. Nutr., 98, 188-192... 

Recommended dietary allowances for a male adult (daily intake, in foods and food supplements) of some nutrients, usually the amounts estimated as needed to prevent overt manifestation of deficiency disease in most persons. For the substances listed in smaller amounts the optimum intake, leading to the best of health, may be somewhat greater. Not shown, but probably or possibly required, are the essential fatty acids, />aminobenzoic acid, choline, vitamin D, vitamin K, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, zinc, selenium, molybdenum, vanadium, tin, and silicon. 

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