Benefits of Choline Bitartrate

Choline Bitartrate

Choline Bitartrate is primarily used in sports nutrition to used to enhance acetylcholine levels and improve focus, cognition, attention, and muscle contractions.

Overview

What is Choline Bitartrate? Choline Bitartrate is a highly popular nootropic ingredient within the supplement industry; in fact, the FDA officially identified choline as an essential nutrient in 1998. The benefits of Choline Bitartrate are diverse, as it plays a role in promoting overall health in a variety of ways.

But how exactly does Choline Bitartrate work? Let's take a deeper look ⬇️

Acetylcholine

In order to understand Choline Bitartrate, it's first important to understand the role of acetylcholine within the body. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in focus, cognition, and skeletal muscle contractions. Upon the consumption of a choline source, an enzyme catalyzes the reaction of choline with acetl-CoA to produce acetylcholine.

There are many forms of acetylcholine precursors available on the market; amongst those, Citicholine, DMAE, Alpha-GPC, and Choline Bitartrate are easily the most popular. In recent years, the use of Choline Bitartrate in sports nutrition has declined, as other forms of acetylcholine precursors have been shown to be much more effective in crossing the blood-brain barrier. For reference, 2,000mg Choline Bitartate yields about 800mg of choline.

Acetylcholine plays a crucial role in the central nervous system. Lifelong choline supplementation is correlated with the prevention of certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimers. A cross-sectional study conducted on 2,400 elderly patients suffering from dementia suggested that choline intake correlated with improvements in cognitive performance.

Additional Choline Benefits

However, while Choline Bitartrate does pose a lower bioavailability compared to other acetylcholine precursors, there's a substantial amount of evidence to rationalize it's use. Choline Bitartrate is effective for increasing systemic choline levels. As choline acts as a methyl donor, this tremendously benefits the liver, where choline pathways are most active. Choline and other methyl donors are essential for maintaining proper liver function, as they act as modulators of gene expression. When deprived of methyl donors, the liver becomes inefficient and fatty. Additionally, Choline Bitartrate is also is by far the most cost effective choline source.

Choline also plays a substantial role in the heart and exhibits cardioprotective properties by preventing arrythmias, hypertrophy, and ischemia. In animal studies, it's also been shown to prevent hypertension by enhancing cardiac function.

It is also reported that choline plays a role in the metabolism of fat, as it breaks down fat for use as energy. As previously mentioned, choline prevents conditions such as fatty liver or excess fat within the bloodstream. In addition, choline also is linked to greater levels of satiety, or the feeling of fullness. This mechanism can aid in weight loss through a decreased consumption of calories.

For more information on Choline Bitartrate, acetylcholine, or other acetylcholine precursors, read here ⬇️

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557825/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10025538/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3729018/