CHOLINE
WHAT IS CHOLINE?
Choline plays a key role in a number of essential biological processes, including neurological development, muscle movement, and liver function. Scientists first discovered choline in the mid-1800s, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that biologists began researching the full extent of its health benefits.
Although the liver produces small amounts of choline, most of the choline we need comes from our diet. Keep reading to find out how choline can kickstart a productive day of learning and working, optimize your workout, and regulate liver function during an exhilarating night out on the town.
What does choline do for your body?
• Regulates mood and memory. Studies show that diets rich in choline improve memory significantly and may help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Choline also helps control mood swings and may protect the brain against the development of mood disorders.
• Promotes healthy liver function. Choline aids in liver function by removing cholesterol and transporting fats from the liver to other parts of the body. This function provides energy to our bodies, aids in metabolism, and helps create vital neurological proteins. It also helps prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
• Supports muscle movement and a regular heartbeat. Your body needs choline to produce acetylcholine, a chemical compound that transmits messages between your nerves and muscles. Acetylcholine regulates heartbeat, slows contraction of the heart muscles, increases bladder capacity, and so much more.
• Lowers blood pressure and reduces cholesterol. By removing cholesterol from the liver, choline helps keep our cardiovascular systems healthy, decreasing the risk of heart disease.
• Keeps cells and tissues healthy. Choline is a key component in the production of building blocks that form part of cell membranes, plasma, and lipoproteins, as well as the insulation of brain and nerve tissues.
This is just the beginning of what we know about choline so far. The list of choline’s potential health benefits is a long one. Choline is also thought to help treat a wide range of neurological and liver diseases, as well as protect the liver from alcohol damage and improve athletic performance.
What does choline do for your body?
Aside from its role in key biological functions, choline powers every part of your daily routine, from the start of your workday to the end of your night out. Here are just a few of the ways choline fuels your active lifestyle.
Kickstarts a productive day of learning and working
Choline’s contributions to learning and memory make it an important part of a productive day at work or school. Enhance your mental performance and productivity with a healthy dose of choline in the morning. A hearty breakfast containing eggs, whole grains, or nuts and seeds, paired with your favorite BrightFox flavor, can provide as much as half of your daily recommended intake, giving you the edge you need to make the most of your day.
Optimizes endurance workouts
From regulating your heart rate to dilating your blood vessels, choline is an essential part of an effective workout routine. Vigorous exercise, particularly endurance sports like marathon running, depletes choline levels significantly. More specifically, scientists suspect that nerve cells source choline from the bloodstream to produce more acetylcholine during endurance exercise to optimize muscle function.
Endurance athletes in particular should monitor their choline intake, but everyone could benefit from a nutritional boost to power up their workout. BrightFox contains 2.2 mg of choline and none of the added sugar or artificial ingredients found in many popular sports drinks
Regulates liver function while drinking alcohol
Your favorite beers and spirits, unfortunately, increase the amount of choline your body needs, as well as the risk of deficiency in people with low intake. Mix your favorite spirit with your favorite BrightFox flavor for a boost of choline and other essential nutrients to keep you dancing, sipping, and vibing with your squad all night long. Choline is even thought to protect your liver against damage from alcohol, although this claim is still being researched.
How much choline do you need?
The recommended daily intake of choline varies based on a number of factors, including age and biological sex. Because choline is still being researched, it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact milligram amount of recommended choline intake. In fact, one study found that some participants who consumed the recommended amount showed signs of choline deficiency.
What foods are rich in choline?
Choline is an abundant nutrient in many of the foods we eat. These include meat (specifically organ meats like beef liver), dairy, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. BrightFox also provides a healthy, hydrating boost of choline, as well as other essential vitamins, minerals, and electrolytes.
Are certain people at risk of choline deficiency?
Pregnant, breastfeeding, and postmenopausal women, those who consume heavy amounts of alcohol, and patients diagnosed with certain genetic disorders are at risk for choline deficiency.
Pregnant and breastfeeding women especially benefit from choline supplementation, which may improve fetal brain development. Choline deficiency is also linked to birth defects. Babies require a substantial amount of choline for healthy development, which they receive from their mothers’ milk. Decreased estrogen levels also increase choline requirements in women experiencing menopause.
Drinking alcohol increases the amount of choline your liver needs to function properly. Using BrightFox as a mixer contributes to your choline intake and also replenishes other nutrients lost from drinking, including water, zinc, and vitamins, fueling your night out and helping you feel refreshed the morning after.
What happens when you don’t get enough choline?
Despite the fact that many people don’t get enough choline in their diets, severe effects of choline deficiency are rare.
Is it possible to consume too much choline?
While it’s possible to consume too much choline, doing so by eating choline-rich foods is unlikely, especially considering the upper limit of choline intake is quite high. The negative effects associated with choline overconsumption are relatively mild.
Choline: The bottom line
There’s still so much we don’t know about this essential nutrient, but what we do know is that choline boosts mental function and brain development, maintains a healthy cardiovascular system, and keeps the liver in top form. The list of choline’s health benefits is sure to keep growing as researchers unravel the mysteries of choline and how it affects our bodies. We’ll toast to that.
