There are various reasons to get nutrients from foods and food sourced supplements rather than synthetically created nutrient molecules. One benefit to naturally produced nutrients sourced from a plant or animal is because they often come as a spectrum, also foods often come along with other compounds that improve absorption and utilization in the body. Another important reason to choose food sourced supplements is the possible effect on deuterium. On recent podcast Functional Medicine Doc Talk by Dr Kurt Woeller (S2 E16) researcher Stephanie Seneff PhD makes the important connection between synthetic choline supplements and deuterium levels in the human body.
Choline is an important nutrient discovered in 1862, but was not considered essential until 1998. When a nutrient is discovered, or considered essential it is studied to find a synthetic form for market sales and various doses are trialed, often high doses that prove to be excessive and associated with increased disease risk.
The human body naturally makes some choline, but not enough to meet needs, which is why it is considered essential. In 1968 the American Heart Association recommended decreasing egg intake to three eggs per week, currently they advise one egg per day for individuals without heart disease.
Inadequate choline is associated with increased risk of “fatty liver,” high cholesterol, PCOS, heart disease, colon cancer, and cognitive decline. The most recent Eat Real Food guidelines suggest three or more eggs per week. Eggs from a chicken raised in a more natural environment (e.g., organic pasture raised) have significantly higher amounts of choline than eggs from a chicken in a less natural environment. In 2019 Smolders in the journal Nutrients noted that choline is absorbed four times as well in an egg than a choline supplement due to the fat naturally occurring in the egg.
Synthetic choline supplements have become very popular when trying to conceive and during pregnancy due to choline’s role in supporting egg & sperm quality, neural tube formation (in addition to folate, magnesium, and Vitamin B3 Niacin), and for infant brain development in utero. Synthetic choline is made from inorganic compounds (e.g. menthanol made from coal, gas or carbon dioxide from emissions or the atmosphere). When choline is made by the chicken it is a natural process that is more bioavailable and biocompatible.
Stephanie Seneff PhD has made a link between increased deuterium levels in the body with synthetic choline supplements. Deuterium is a form of hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most abundant element, and when hydrogen has an extra neutron it is in a different form called deuterium. Excess deuterium is associated with increased disease risk.
Like other nutrients, with choline the natural nutrient is superior to the synthetic. Due to the possible increased risk of disease with excess deuterium, not to mention the inefficiency of choline supplements making it a waste of money, and available animal and vegetarian sources I do not endorse synthetic choline supplements.
Estimated needs from the National Institute of health are 125-150 mg per day, 1-8 years 200-250 mg per day, 8-18 years 375-550 mg per day, 550 mg for adult men, 425 mg for adult women, 450 mg during pregnancy, and 550 mg while breastfeeding. The upper limit during pregnancy is 3000 mg per day.
Example food sources are listed in order of choline content (estimates):
-beef liver (350 mg per 3 oz serving)
-egg (300 mg)
-fish (e.g. salmon 6 ounces contains 190 mg of ---choline)
-beef (four ounces of beef contains 160 mg)
-potatoes (one large potato contains 60 mg)
-quinoa ( one cup cooked quinoa contains 40 mg choline)
-dairy (1 cup milk contains 30 mg of choline)
-broccoli (one cup cooked contains 30 mg)
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