Nutrition & Diet Choline & a Vegan Diet

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Choline helps with brain development. It’s also important for liver function, metabolism, and maintaining a healthy nervous system. Healthline says, “[choline
is required to make acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter. It’s involved in memory, muscle movement, regulating heartbeat and other basic functions.”
Although deemed an essential nutrient, research into choline seems to be fairly limited. There isn’t a recommended daily intake for the compound,
due to a lack of available evidence. However, the Institute of Medicine has set a guide.


How to Get Choline On a Vegan Diet
 
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I've been doing CronOmeter religiously for a while. I get over 100% of everything (including B12 - 449%). Without any supplements. Although one of my main sources of nutrition lately is a Plant-Based formula that has some built-in supplements. But I'm always short of Choline. From what little research I have done on it, most everyone is, especially vegans. So I'm thinking of supplementing it.
Does anyone take a choline supplement?

 
Thanks for the good articles and super quick response. but with the RDA of Choline in the 400s or 500s, and most of those good sources of choline come in under 50 mg - it is still tough to get the mRDA. I'm only getting about 200 a day.
 
the google machine says that soy beans, most all beans and potatoes are good sources of choline and other foods too - tofu, broccolli and other of those cruciferous veggies, peanut butter, mushrooms and quinoa too

Emma JC
 
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Yes, i saw that info too. but the issue is that you need 400 - 500 mg grams of choline a day and except for roasted soybeand they all are under 100 mg per serving. The resource that I listed, the RD made a super healthy vegan meal plan that is heavy on choline rich foods. and it only hit about half of the mRDA of choline.
 
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Thanks for the good articles and super quick response. but with the RDA of Choline in the 400s or 500s, and most of those good sources of choline come in under 50 mg - it is still tough to get the mRDA. I'm only getting about 200 a day.

Supplement how you see fit, and to answer your question from your original post - no, I don't worry about it, provided I eat a variety of (and enough of) whole foods I don't foresee there will be a problem, even if I do happen to fall short by the RDA guidelines.

RDA guidelines are just that - guidelines. They aren't set in stone and fit everyone's requirements. For instance, more B vitamins (particularly Thiamine) is needed for people who consume moderate to heavy amounts of alcohol, as are more minerals like zinc, and more energy (obviously) and some more protein is required by athletes.

For anyone reading this thread, choline is often touted by the egg industry as a reason for eating eggs, and for which they have a hand in funding bogus research to promote egg eating.
 
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I've been doing CronOmeter religiously for a while. I get over 100% of everything (including B12 - 449%). Without any supplements. Although one of my main sources of nutrition lately is a Plant-Based formula that has some built-in supplements. But I'm always short of Choline. From what little research I have done on it, most everyone is, especially vegans. So I'm thinking of supplementing it.
Does anyone take a choline supplement?

Hi Lou! I find a cronometer very useful too, its great to hear that you're getting 100% of everything. There's an interesting article Are vegans choline deficient? that provides some useful information on which type of choline is favourable for the brain, you may want to consider this if you're thinking of supplementing. Also it provides a list on the top 10 plant-based food sources of choline and amount of choline found per serving.
I hope you find this useful and would be happy to hear you thoughts as well.
 
Are #vegans choline-deficient? Choline is the precursor of acetylcholine which plays a vital role in memory retention & learning but the debate lacks evidence. Is anybody getting enough dietary choline?

 


"Humans can synthesize choline moieties in small amounts by converting phosphatidylethanolamine into phosphatidylcholine (see Figure 2 above). Three methylation reactions catalyzed by phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) are required, each using S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as a methyl group donor. Choline is generated endogenously when the methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine is coupled with the catabolism of newly formed phosphatidylcholine by phospholipases. This is referred to as de novo synthesis of choline. The substitution of choline by serine in the synthesis of phosphatidylserine from phosphatidylcholine by phosphatidylserine synthase-1 also releases choline (4). Because phosphatidylcholine metabolism is a source of endogenous choline, the nutrient was not initially classified as essential (1). Yet, de novo choline synthesis in humans is not sufficient to meet their metabolic needs such that healthy humans fed choline-deficient diets develop fatty liver, liver damage, and/or muscle damage (see Deficiency). "

I wonder if some peoples' bodies are better at this than others'?

If so, mine probably falls in the category of below average, since I find both supplemental 'betaine anhydrous' and 'soy lecithin granules' to help me with my mood and cognition.
 
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I wonder if some peoples' bodies are better at this than others'?
I think this is probably so for a variety of reasons, not the least of which might be genetic. My guess is that humans, like other animals, adapt quickly to local diets. This is great when populations are small, dispersed and not very inclined to move far. Today, we have people admixing all over the place, so how can you know what your genetic heritage best suits you to eat?

As for choline, I dunno. Everything I have read suggests that vegans will struggle to get enough but we do know that people adapt quickly and can improve endogenous synthesis of some nutrients when dietary intakes reduce. As the article referenced above notes however, endogenous synthesis isn't sufficient and many people are not getting enough in their diet. Especially vegans.

What I think interesting from this article is that liver is a very good source. What this suggests to me - and remember I am just guessing - is that humans adapted to getting sufficient choline from animal foods, particularly organ meats. Which of course, we once ate as a staple. Hence, we don't do well now without eating those sorts of foods. Whether vegans can make up for this seems hard to tell, but again, it seems likely it is difficult as Lou observes above.
 
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Yeah, the article does say most people on a typical modern omni diet don't meet the RDI.
It is also possible (and dangerous) to get too much, though, especially with injudicious use of supplements like lecithin or a diet heavy in eggs or organs.
I imagine that some people can do a great job of keeping a healthy balance because they can synthesize what they need.
But maybe some others, because of genes or whatnot, just do not.

My own opinion is that in the past people may or may not have gotten an ideal amount of lots of nutrients, like a kind of hit-and-miss. Thankfully, today we are learning more about how we can be healthy (as individuals) and responsible/sustainable (globally) both at the same time.

Back to choline specifically, I keep seeing that a "metabolite" of choline (to be honest, my understanding of what 'metabolite' means is . . . uh, almost zero)--anyway, this 'metabolite' called betaine has been found even more helpful for cognition in a few studies.

And betaine can be found in a lot of great foods that I just happen to LOVE, like beets, chard and other beet family plants, an invasive edible vine called Anredera Cordifolia, and molasses.
 
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