Become A “Mentality Monster” With Choline

Choline is cognitive booster which is often included in pre-workout supplements for its ability to improve mental focus.

Yet despite a rapid rise in popularity in recent years, the jury is still out on whether it really works.

We’ll take a closer look at the body of research surrounding this ingredient in this article, and then we’ll decide if choline belongs in your pre-workout alongside proven ingredients like caffeine and creatine, or whether you should leave it on the side-lines.

Does Choline Improve Mental Focus?

Choline assists in the formation of a compound called acetylcholine (a.k.a. the “learning” neurotransmitter), so after you take it you’ll feel like you can hear colours.

When we consider that exercise depletes our body’s natural reserves of acetylcholine, it makes sense that topping up with a supplement should improve performance, right?

Also, by increasing our total acetylcholine we should also be able to enhance muscle contraction force and even the mind/muscle connection, so we can see why choline is a strong contender for a pre-workout formula. (2, 3)

Unfortunately, all of the above is dead wrong.

Yep, this is one of those crazy situations where life takes something that totally makes sense “in theory” and kicks you straight in the balls:

The hype surrounding choline as a cognitive booster dates back to 2013, when Spanish researchers published a study which showed that rodents improved their attention span and their ability to learn new skills via adding choline to their diet. (4)

This led to human trials being conducted, but unfortunately for the researchers (and the rest of us), none of them have been able to replicate those results. (5, 6, 7)

In fact, the only human trail to show even a slight positive effect involved children. Arriving in 2020 via the Journal of Neurodevelopment Disorders, researchers followed up with the participants of a choline study from four years ago and discovered that the kids who used choline now showed noticeably better memory and non-verbal intelligence than those who did not use choline. (8)

So while it’s definitely NOT the cognitive booster we first thought, it might still be useful for your kids (but more research is needed).

Choline + Huperzine A

There have been many great tag-teams:

• Edge and Christian
• Rock and roll
• Bangers and mash

And now we can add a new one to the list: choline and huperzine A.

Huperzine A is a little-known ingredient which has recently found its way onto the radar of bodybuilding brands, making its way into more experimental, “cutting edge” pre-workout formulas.

Even though it offers no direct muscle building properties of its own, huperzine A is said to decrease the breakdown of acetylcholine, so when combined with choline it potentially gives you a dream scenario where you’ve got less acetylcholine breakdown and more acetylcholine production at the same time, which could lead to vastly superior mental focus. (13, 14)

More research is needed before I’ll change my stance that choline is simply NOT a great cognitive booster, but the early signs are that this combination of huperzine A + choline may increase it’s effectiveness.

Using Choline To Improve Liver Health

Okay, this is where choline really starts to shine.

Studies dating back to the 1930s indicate that doctors were able to fully resolve fatty liver disease (which is caused by a choline deficiency) in cats and dogs by giving them choline in supplement form. (9)

Human trials were later done in the 1980s and the results were great! (10)

Those findings have since been re-confirmed in more recent studies, so at this point it’s safe to say that choline can definitely improve liver health. (11, 12)

This is big news, because a 2018 meta-analysis from Nutrition Today Journal discovered that the majority of the American public do not obtain enough choline via their diet to unlock any of the benefits it offers with regards to liver health, so this is where a supplement comes in handy. (1)

It was even elevated to the status of “essential nutrient” by the Food & Nutrition Board of the National Academies of Medicine way back in 1985, but it’s a problem which still persists today.

A List of Foods Highest In Choline

Food	Choline mg (per 100g)
Chicken liver	290mg
Salmon	220mg
Chicken broilers	65mg
Almonds	48mg
Eggs	35mg
Shiitake mushrooms	25mg
Milk	17mg

The 4 Different Types Of Choline Supplements Explained

There are four different types of choline supplements:

• Alpha GPC (alpha-glycerol phosphoryl choline)
• Choline chloride
• Choline dihydrogen citrate
• Choline bitartrate

I’ve listed these in terms of quality from highest-to-lowest, so Alpha GPC is the pick of the bunch.

It will give you the biggest bang for your buck as it’s able to provide the full benefits of choline in a smaller dose than any of the others on the list, and it does so while avoiding the headaches which are associated with high doses.

Aim for 500mg-1500mg per day for maximum results.

This is the product I recommend.

Russ’ Rating

Choline is an interesting conundrum.

On one hand we know how it should work, and we know why it should work… but on the other hand there’s simply not enough evidence to show that it actually does work!

For example, a 2018 review paper on optimal nutrition supplements for the brain didn’t even consider it a viable option in it’s list of cognitive booster supplements due to a lack of evidence. (15)

Until this changes I refuse to recommend choline as a “must have” pre-workout ingredient.

For now, the main benefit choline offers is that it can have a positive effect on liver health, and considering most people fail to obtain enough choline via their daily diet, that’s a great reason to start using it.

Further Reading:

If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll probably also like reading these.

>> Russ’ Guide To Supplements
>> Creatine: Your Best Pal For Building Muscle!
>> Tribulus: An Ineffective Test Booster!

References:

1. Wallace T. C., et al. Choline: The Underconsumed and Underappreciated Essential Nutrient. Nutrition Today (2018).
2. Sam C, et al. Physiology, Acetylcholine. StatPearls Publishing (2022).
3. Conlay L. A., et al. Exercise and neuromodulators: choline and acetylcholine in marathon runners. Int J Sports Med (1992).
4. Moreno H., et al. Chronic dietary choline supplementation modulates attentional change in adult rats. Behave Brain Res (2013).
5. Naber M., et al. Improved human visuomotor performance and pupil constriction after choline supplementation in a placebo-controlled double-blind study. Sci Rep (2015).
6. Warber J. P., et al. The effects of choline supplementation on physical performance. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab (2000)
7. Deuster P. A., et al. Choline ingestion does not modify physical or cognitive performance. Mil Med (2002).
8. Wozniak J. R., et al. Four-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of choline for neurodevelopment in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. J Neuro Dev Disorders (2020).
9. Caudill M. A., et al. Folate, choline, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 (chapter 25). Biochemical, Physiological, and Molecular Aspects of Human Nutrition (2013).
10. Buchman A. L., et al. Choline deficiency causes reversible hepatic abnormalities in patients receiving parenteral nutrition: proof of a human choline requirement: a placebo-controlled trial. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr (2001).
11. Zeisel S. H., et al. Choline, an essential nutrient for humans. FASEB J (1991).
12. da Costa K., et al. Elevated serum creatine phosphokinase in choline-deficient humans: mechanistic studies in C2C12 mouse myoblasts. Am J Clin Nutr (2004).
13. Wessinger C. M., et al. Effect of Huperzine A on Cognitive Function and Perception of Effort during Exercise: A Randomized Double-Blind Crossover Trial. Int J Exerc Sci (2021).
14. Li Y, et al. Pharmacokinetics of huperzine A following oral administration to human volunteers. Eur J Metab Pharmacokinet (2007).
15. Meeusen R., et al. Nutritional Supplements and the Brain. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab (2018).