Feeling exhausted in spite of an early night? Finding that you keep forgetting little things? There is a little-known nutrient which plays a crucial role in your body’s performance and your overall long-term health. It’s called choline, and it is an essential nutrient, which means it’s vital to your body’s natural processes and functions. Although the body naturally produces a small amount of it, you also need to ingest some to maintain the recommended levels.
Alongside other nutrients, maintaining the right levels of choline can help you feel more energetic, improve cognitive function, and much more.
Nutritional therapist and naturopathic chef Hanieh Vidmar has made it a priority in her own life now that she’s pregnant and recommends it to others as well. “Choline plays a big role in our brain health, mood, memory, and liver function,” she explains. “People with low intake or deficiency may notice things like low energy, trouble concentrating, or even signs of a fatty liver, since choline helps move fat out of the liver.”
As well as having an impact on your day-to-day lifestyle, Hanieh also highlighted how it has links to long-term brain health, with low levels linked to conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
“Many studies suggest it may help reduce anxiety and lower the risk of depression,” Hanieh continued. “Low levels in pregnancy have also been linked to attention issues and a higher risk of ADHD in children.” A choline deficiency is relatively rare but important to act upon if noticed.
Here’s a closer look at what it is and how you can integrate it into your diet.
As an essential nutrient, choline is necessary to maintain normal bodily functions and long-term health. Small amounts are made in the liver, but the majority of it is gained through diet.
Specifically, choline affects liver function , brain development, muscle strength, metabolism, and the processes of the nervous system.
Choline is a vital part of creating fats that support the strength of cells, as well as producing compounds that act as messengers between cells.
In the liver, it helps to remove cholesterol, an important part of metabolism. Last but not least, it’s an essential part of the production of acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter that’s involved in muscle memory, cognitive functions, heartbeat regulation, and other automatic processes.
How much choline do you need?
The amount of choline you need depends on your lifestyle, size, and age. However, the list below offers a rough basis of how much you should be consuming:
- 0–6 months: 125 mg per day
- 7–12 months: 150 mg per day
- 1–3 years: 200 mg per day
- 4–8 years: 250 mg per day
- 9–13 years: 375 mg per day
- 14–19 years: 400 mg per day for women and 550 mg per day for men
- Adult women: 425 mg per day
- Adult men: 550 mg per day
- Breastfeeding women: 550 mg per day
- Pregnant women: 930 mg per day
Those who consume high amounts of alcohol could also need more choline, as there’s a greater demand on the liver.
Because estrogen helps to produce choline, postmenopausal people can also experience a deficiency. The same goes for pregnant people, which is believed to happen as the fetus requires choline for development.
“Most of our choline comes from animal-based foods like eggs, beef, chicken, fish, and milk,” explained Hanieh. “It’s also in plant foods like broccoli, peanuts, kidney beans, and mushrooms. However, animal sources tend to have much more.”
If you want to make sure that you are getting the recommended levels of choline, here are some recommended foods with higher levels of the nutrient:
- Beef and chicken liver
- Eggs
- Fresh cod
- Salmon
- Cauliflower
- Broccoli
- Soybean oil
