The fetal origins of memory: The role of dietary choline in optimal brain development
Section snippets
Choline, folic acid, and methionine metabolism are related
The close interrelationship of choline, folic acid, vitamin B12, and methionine metabolism intersects at the formation of methionine from homocysteine. Methionine can be formed through 2 pathways: from homocysteine, using methyl groups donated by methyltetrahydrofolate, or from methyl groups derived from betaine (which is derived from choline).7 A disturbance in 1 of these metabolic pathways results in compensatory changes in the other. For example, if 1 nutrient is in short supply, the other
Dietary sources of choline
The first database of choline content in foods is now available for scientists and clinicians to use in assessing choline intake in humans19, 20 (see also http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Choline/Choline.html). Daily human choline intake on an ad libitum diet averages 8.4 mg/kg for males and 6.7 mg/kg for females.21 However, Shaw et al,22 studying pregnant women in California, observed intakes of less than half this amount in 25% of the women studied. Choline is found in a wide
Choline and the fetus
Choline is important during the perinatal period, especially for spinal cord and brain development. There is a high rate of transfer of choline across the placenta,25, 26 which actually depletes maternal stores of choline.27 After birth, the baby gets choline from breast milk. (Note that infant formulas do not always emulate human milk in terms of choline content.28) This choline comes from the transfer of choline from maternal blood into milk against a concentration gradient by the mammary
Choline requirements may vary with sex
Premenopausal women, relative to males and postmenopausal women, have enhanced capacity for de novo biosynthesis of choline moiety through PEMT in the liver. This likely reflects some evolutionary pressure to optimize choline status in females capable of becoming pregnant. Female rats are less sensitive to choline deficiency than are male rats,75 and female mice produce more phosphatidylcholine via the PEMT pathway than do male mice.76 Estrogen status may be important for this increased PEMT
Questions for future research
Are we varying the availability of choline when we feed infant formulas instead of milk? Does the form and amount of choline ingested contribute to variations in memory observed between humans? Does choline supplementation of pregnant women result in babies with enhanced memory? Are the women who are eating low-choline diets and have an increased risk of having babies with a neural defect22 also at risk of having babies with diminished memory function? Do women with genetic polymorphisms in
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Mass spectrometric based analysis of whole eggs dissolved in formic acid
2023, Food ChemistryCitation Excerpt :In particular, recent studies in rats and mice have demonstrated that an insufficient supply of choline during pregnancy is deleterious to development of neural tissue. Potentially irreversible behavioral disorders due to nerve dysfunction are observed in progeny of choline-starved rodent mothers (Zeisel, 2006; Romano et al., 2017). Eggs are one of the best dietary sources of choline, providing 115 mg per large whole egg (Caudill, 2010).
Effect of nutrients on brain function
2023, Nutraceutical Fruits and Foods for Neurodegenerative DisordersRole of fruit and food components in brain cognition
2023, Nutraceutical Fruits and Foods for Neurodegenerative Disorders
Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (DK55865, AG09525, and ES012997) and the National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (2005-35200-15247). Support for this work was also provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health to the University of North Carolina Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (DK56350), the University of North Carolina General Clinical Research Center (RR00046), and the Center for Environmental Health and Susceptibility (ES10126). Dr. Zeisel receives research support from Mead Johnson Nutritionals and from the Gerber Foundation. These sponsors played no role in the study design or interpretation or writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Dr. Zeisel is a consultant for Mead Johnson, General Mills, Hershey Foods, and Solae. Mead Johnson sponsored the symposium and provided an honorarium to the author to attend the conference, present the article, and submit a manuscript. The author is entirely and exclusively responsible for its content.