Choline
DECholin
Choline is a water-soluble nutrient. The US Institute of Medicine officially recognized it as essential in 1998. It set Adequate Intakes of 425 mg a day for adult women and 550 mg a day for adult men. EFSA later set a single Adequate Intake of 400 mg a day for adults, in 2016. Choline plays several roles in your body. It is the backbone of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin (membrane fats). It is a precursor to the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. And it donates methyl groups, after being oxidized to betaine. The richest food sources are egg yolk, liver, soybeans, and beef. But there is a catch. In your colon, microbes turn excess choline and phosphatidylcholine into trimethylamine (TMA). Your liver then oxidizes TMA to TMAO. High TMAO has been linked to cardiovascular risk in observational studies, though whether it is causal in humans is still debated.
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Sources
- Institute of Medicine (US) Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes. (1998). Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline (chapter on choline). *National Academies Press*doi:10.17226/6015
- Zeisel SH, da Costa KA. (2009). Choline: an essential nutrient for public health. *Nutrition Reviews*doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2009.00246.x
- EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). (2016). Dietary reference values for choline. *EFSA Journal*doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2016.4484