Choline Rich Foods: Top 10 Choline Foods

Choline is an essential nutrient for humans, being a core component of cells, so ensuring you consume satisfactory levels of choline rich foods is crucial. This nutrient forms a really important structural component of cell membranes that keep your cells together and working properly.

Without sufficient choline consumed through your diet, your cells would undergo cell death. Choline is an essential nutrient, as it can’t be made within the body in sufficient quantities. Therefore, eating choline rich dietary food sources is essential to maintaining optimum health.

Choline

Choline rich foods are really influential on brain health. It forms a precursor to the neurotransmitter molecule acetylcholine. Neurotransmitters are molecules that help to move signals from nerve cell to another and across the body.

As we age maintaining optimal choline levels becomes more and more important. Choline also forms a key component of skeletal muscle, because of its role in cell membrane structural integrity. Choline and choline derived phospholipids form a large part of cellular membranes. The neurotransmitter acetylcholine is also crucial for muscle contraction.

One choline form you might eat a lot of is lecithin or phatidylcholine. PC, or phatidylcholine is found in plant foods.

Choline Health Effects & Benefits

When choline intake becomes disrupted, there are various conditions that can arise. This is because choline is involved in various cell functions. Choline has been implicated in obesity, inflammatory muscle diseases and kidney diseases. Lowered choline and phosphatidylcholine concentrations in the blood have been linked to an increased rate of liver damage. Choline also prevents fatty liver disease.

Whereas when choline levels are sufficient, for example when you are regularly eating choline rich foods, it helps to regulate fatty acid production and counteracts inflammatory responses. This is how choline intake may influence obesity and diabetes. This emphasises how important eating a diet rich in choline can be for your health, with those eating vegetarian diets at higher risk.

Choline & The Brain

There is evidence that supplementation with choline can enhance cognition and brain functioning. In particular, enhanced brain cell functioning has been identified with choline sufficiency in the hippocampus. The hippocampus is associated with cognitive memory formation and learning.

Higher choline status over a lifetime improves Alzheimer’s symptoms, offering a neuroprotective function in the brain. This is thought to happen through reduced activation of microglia. Overactive brain microglia cells is linked with neurodegeneration. One mega study found that regular choline supplement use had neuroprotective benefits in middle-aged females, delaying cognitive decline. Choline can also be metabolised by the microbiota in the large intestine and may therefore influence microbe composition and gut health. Microbes of the gut can also influence brain health.

Choline is particularly important throughout our lives because it forms such a key structural component of the brain. Choline encourages optimal blood brain barrier health, which is important in protecting the brain from harmful compounds. While beneficial compounds like choline are allowed regular passage through into the brain, harmful drugs or toxic compounds are prevented from crossing by the BBB or blood brain barrier. Some studies with choline supplementation have shown that choline encourages optimal overall neurotransmitter levels and brain metabolism.

Effects Of Increasing Choline Consumption

One study looked at the effects of increased consumption of choline through choline rich food sources and also supplements. It was determined that eating choline rich food sources might provide more benefits and bioavailable choline than supplements.

People eating choline rich food sources were observed to have reduced inflammation, insulin levels, insulin resistance and C-reactive protein levels. These are all core biomarkers for the potential improvement of various aspects of human health, especially metabolic syndrome. Choline is also involved in methyl-group exchange with the amino acid methionine and vitamin B12.

Interestingly, mothers with higher choline in their diet seemed to have babies with healthier brains. There seems to be a deficiency in choline intake in the US, especially in women who are pregnant.

10 Choline Rich Foods & Food Sources

Eating choline rich foods seems to have proven potential health benefits, while eating choline food sources might be a way to take in choline than supplements. We’ve seen how important choline is for cell structure, optimal muscle function and brain health.

The RDA for choline is 425mg per day in women and 550mg per day for men. In pregnancy your choline requirements can increase to up to 550mg per day. This is because choline influences neural tube development, which is essential to how the nervous system forms in early pregnancy. With these things in mind, let’s look at some choline rich foods and food sources.

Beef Liver

Beef liver is not to everyone’s taste however it is abundant in choline, in addition to other essential nutrients such as B12, vitamin A and B vitamins. In 100 grams of fried beef liver there is 418.2mg of choline. This is equivalent to about 85.8% of your RDA of choline. Beef liver is tasty when cooked right but is not to everyone’s taste.

Eggs

Egg yolks are very rich in choline, offering one of the richest dietary sources of choline available. 100 grams of eggs contain 335mg of choline. This offers a rich source of dietary choline from various choline forms and up to about 70% of your RDA on average.

Beef Mince

Minced beef contains 85mg of choline per 100 grams of minced beef. This is equivalent to about 17% of your RDA of choline on average. Beef is a staple food worldwide with lots of cooking flexibility. It is also rich in vitamin B12, zinc and selenium.

Roast Chicken Thigh

In 100 grams of roast chicken thigh meat there is 67.6mg of choline. This is equivalent to about 14% of your RDA on average. Chicken meat is also rich in protein, various B vitamins and some minerals like zinc that make it a staple food.

Salmon

Salmon is also rich in choline, offering a source of omega-3 fatty acids too. These nutrients can contribute to optimal brain health. In 100 grams of smoked salmon, there is 89mg of choline, this about 18% of your RDA on average.

Almonds

Almonds are quite rich in various nutrients and are quite well known for their mineral content. These include manganese, zinc, copper, magnesium and phosphorus. Almonds contain 52.1mg of choline per 100 grams, offering 11% of your RDA on average. They can be easily enjoyed as a snack to improve your levels on nutrients in general.

Peanuts

Peanuts are a fairly rich source of choline, offering 52.5mg of choline per 100 grams of peanuts. This is about 11% of your RDA of choline on average, while also offering good levels of protein and healthy fats. Peanuts are one of our favourite nutrient dense foods here.

Flax Seeds

Flax seeds are high in omega 3 oils and minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus and zinc. They are also rich in choline for a plant food source, containing 78.7mg of choline per 100 grams of flax seeds. This is about 16% of your RDA of choline on average.  

Broccoli

While not as rich as other dietary sources of choline, broccoli does provide choline in addition to other essential nutrients such as vitamin C. In 100 grams of broccoli there is 18.7mg of choline, this is equivalent to 3.8% of your RDA on average. It is easy to see how vegetarians can become deficient in choline. Broccoli is a healthy side dish and can be eaten alongside fish or meat, while also used in al Forno or oven pasta dishes.

Brussel Sprouts

In 100 grams of Brussel Sprouts there is 19.1mg of choline, roughly equal to 4% of your RDA on average. Brussel Sprouts are another vegetarian source of choline, also rich in vitamin C and vitamin K. They make a really easy side dish to roasted meat dishes.

Conclusion

Here we have covered 10 choline rich foods, including both vegetable and meat sources of choline. Some foods rich in choline include beef liver, eggs, almonds and Brussel sprouts.

Choline is an absolutely essential nutrient that we can’t make ourselves in a high enough quantity. Without sufficient choline your cells would die off.

It is a very important structural component in cell membranes and neurotransmitter precursor. We need choline for optimal brain and liver health. Choline is also important for your skeletal muscle, ensuring muscles contract correctly. Choline deficiency is more likely in vegetarians who must alter their diet to achieve a sufficient choline intake.

There are many studies that highlight the important influence that eating increased amounts of choline can have on the body. Most results from these studies show that choline aids normal brain function and have neuroprotective qualities when consumed or supplemented over a large period of time. One particular study showed that the benefits improved choline levels might be greater with rich food sources of choline, rather than supplements.

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