Anyone who's ever heard of choline probably knows about its important role in mental performance. Choline is not only essential for your mind, but also for your body.
Never heard of it? Choline, for example, is responsible for maintaining cell membranes and transmitting nerve signals in the brain. Without choline, nothing functions in your body or mind, so you depend on sufficient amounts of the substance.
Whether acetyl, CDP or even alpha: we have explained below what the different substances do and how they are related.
Table of contents
1. THE EFFECT OF CHOLINE ON YOUR MENTAL FITNESS
Choline plays an important role in the transmission of information within the brain . Specifically, it is the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is formed from choline through conversion processes, that is responsible for this transmission.
Without acetylcholine, communication between the different brain regions is disrupted. If this neurotransmitter is missing to transport information to where it's needed, you're essentially left out in the cold. You forget things and simply have trouble concentrating .
If you take a closer look at the structure of choline, you'll find that the two components alpha-GPC and citicoline are relevant to mental fitness and affect your ability to concentrate. These two active ingredients are considered " nootropics " in the dietary supplement sector.
2. THE EFFECT OF CHOLINE ON YOUR PHYSICAL PERFORMANCE
In addition to its various mental functions, acetylcholine also plays an essential role in your body. For example, it transmits stimuli to the muscles and thus controls vital functions such as breathing , blood pressure , and heart rate .
Acetylcholine is also important for what's known as " muscle memory ." This involves the permanent storage of motor skills , technique , and movement sequences in the brain , allowing them to be quickly recalled even after extended breaks from training .
Acetylcholine is also required for this storage process. In fact, the more of it you have in your body, the better the storage processes of your training routines work.
The consequences of a choline deficiency
Depleted choline stores can have several causes, but the most common is an unbalanced diet . The body relies on choline being absorbed through food.
Although the body can produce acetylcholine in certain amounts, this is not enough to meet all needs. With age, the body's own production declines dramatically .
The consequences are reduced concentration , memory impairment , and DNA damage . Concentration difficulties arise primarily from inadequate transmission of stimuli within the brain.
In order for the network of nerve cells to function properly in transmitting information, there must be sufficient acetylcholine as a messenger substance between the brain regions.
If the concentration of acetylcholine is too low, it is recycled piece by piece from existing cells. The choline-containing structures in your brain are attacked, and the choline from the membranes in your body is utilized. The serious result is DNA damage.
Foods containing choline
Since your body cannot produce enough acetylcholine on its own, it's important to consume additional amounts of this micronutrient through food. A balanced diet should generally provide this.
However , vegetarians and vegans in particular are more likely to develop a deficiency , as choline is found in large quantities in meat, fish and eggs .
This is fundamentally problematic: Excessive consumption of these foods is also a health risk. The recommended daily intake is on average 550 mg for men and around 425 mg for women .
3. CITOLIN AND ITS SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON YOUR BRAIN
Citicoline is an attractive performance-enhancing drug because it easily crosses the blood-brain barrier, allowing it to reach the site where it's needed.
Choline, for example, cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and must first undergo various conversion processes. Once citicoline has overcome this barrier, it has a positive effect on increasing acetylcholine .
It also has a positive effect on the release of another neurotransmitter, dopamine , also known as the happiness hormone. In certain areas, research into performance enhancement through citicioline intersects with research into the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
It has been scientifically proven that the administration of citicoline can improve memory to a certain extent. A large-scale study in Italy confirms the effectiveness of citicoline in treating neurological damage to the brain [1].
Citicoline was administered to over 2,000 patients over a period of five months. This demonstrated its supportive effect in the recovery from damage to the nervous system in the brain and its good tolerability.
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4. ...AND WHAT THE DIFFERENCE TO ALPHA-GPC LIES
The active ingredient Alpha-GPC, strictly speaking, has the sonorous name alpha-glycerylphosphorycholine and is located at the other end of the acetylcholine conversion chain . It is actually produced as a waste product, but nevertheless has a positive effect on both neurotransmitters in the brain.
This component of choline, whose name surely makes the heart of any chemistry fan beat faster, has mentally supportive properties and plays a particularly important role in your mental performance. Alpha-GPC works similarly to its related counterpart, citicoline.
It crosses the blood-brain barrier and, after conversion, acts on either the neurotransmitters acetylcholine or dopamine. The relationships between the various substances are illustrated here:
5. Conclusion
The question of improved memory performance cannot be answered in a single, unequivocal way, as research in this area is still relatively in its infancy. Various exogenous and endogenous factors often play a significant role in the outcome of studies.
Differences in the absorption of the active ingredient, the physical constitution of the test subjects and many other factors can be influencing.
What is certain is that taking a substance containing choline has been proven to increase your acetylcholine levels in the brain and throughout your body, and acetylcholine is responsible for processes there that are relevant to your performance.
6. Sources
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8030842
