Suggested Amounts of Dietary Choline May be Too Low
(NY, Reuters Health, 6/5/07)

Dr. Kerry-Ann da Costa, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues, put 26 men, 16 pre-menopausal women and 15 post-menopausal women on a diet that included 550 mg of choline per day. After 10 days, the investigators gave participants a diet containing less than 50 mg of choline for up to 42 days and randomly assigned them to receive, or not receive, folic acid supplements. The scientists found that most of the subjects began to show signs of liver dysfunction and some needed as much as 825 mg of choline to prevent or reverse damage resulting from the deficiency. They also noted that the effects of choline deficiency occurred with and without the folic acid. These findings suggest that some individuals require more than the USDA’s recommended daily amount of choline, a nutrient critical to forming cell membranes and manufacturing neurotransmitters.

(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, May 2007)