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CholineThe compound also helps form phosphatidylcholine, the primary phospholipid of cell membranes. The compound is also the precursor to acetylcholine, one of the crucial brain chemicals involved in memory. In addition, the compound is also used in the formation of betaine (also known as trimethylglycine), an important methyl donor. Choline also helps transport of lipids from the liver. Dietary sources of the compound include, eggs, fish, legumes, nuts, and meats and vegetables, as well as in human breast milk. From anti aging perspective, one important study, in the July 2005 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, indicated that a daily dose of choline, supplemented as phosphatidyl choline, lowers fasting as well as postmethionine-loading plasma homocysteine concentrations in healthy men with mildly elevated homocysteine concentrations. If, as research has suggested, high homocysteine concentrations may be one of the causes of cardiovascular disease, choline intake may reduce cardiovascular disease risk in humans. It has been suggested that the mechanism behind this function of choline may be the due to the ability of the compound to be transformed into betaine. Research suggests that higher intakes of dietary choline and betaine are related to lower homocysteine concentrations independent of other determinants, including folate and other B vitamins. Choline - StudiesSynaptic proteins and phospholipids are increased in gerbil brain by administering uridine plus docosahexaenoic acid orally.Brain Res. 2006 Apr 19; Wurtman RJ, Ulus IH, Cansev M, Watkins CJ, Wang L, Marzloff G. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, Cambridge, MA. Choline deficiency in mice and humans is associated with increased plasma homocysteine concentration after a methionine load. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 81, No. 2, 440-444, February 2005. Oral choline decreases brain purine levels in lithium-treated subjects with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder: a double-blind trial using proton and lithium magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Lyoo IK. Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, .Bipolar Disord. 2003 Aug;5(4):300-6. CDP-choline increases plasma ACTH and potentiates the stimulated release of GH, TSH and LH: the cholinergic involvement. Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2004 Oct;18(5):513-523.
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