Vitamin Choline

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Vitamin Choline - Food Sources and Deficiency Symptoms

Choline is also known as amanitine, is an indispensable for a number of fundamental processes in the body. It is an active constituent of lecithin. Choline is a water soluble member of the Vitamin B complex. It is synthesized in the liver.

Choline isn't a B vitamin, but it is often included in the B-vitamin family because it does work closely with other B vitamins, especially folic acid and cobalamin, to process fat and keep the heart and brain healthy.

Choline i.e. trimethyl ethanolamine is a kind of colorless, viscous and strongly alkaline liquid with slight savour of fish. Choline reacts on acids to form stable crystalline salts, which have a strong hygroscopic nature and sends forth an offensive odour of amine after absorbing CO2.

The most commonly used form of choline is choline chloride, an additive for commercial application.

Functions Of Vitamin Choline:

The main functions of vitamin choline are as:-

• It helps in controlling your weight as well as cholesterol levels, keeping cell membranes healthy and in preventing gallstones.

• It helps in preventing perosis in poultry.

• It accelerates the transmission of hepatic fat as the form of lecithin or improve the oxidation of fatty acid in the liver.

• It is also most useful in the maintenance of the nervous system, assisting memory and learning, and may help to fight infections, including hepatitis and AIDS.

• Choline is the major precursor of betaine, and it is used by the kidneys to maintain water balance and by the liver as a source of methyl-groups for methionine formation.

• It prevents fatty liver.

• Choline is used to produce the important neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

• It is a key constituent of lecithin which plays an important role in maintaining cell structures and functions.

Deficiency of choline:

A deficiency of choline may lead to liver disease, raised cholesterol levels, high blood pressure as well as kidney problems. Choline deficiency may also manifest itself in the inability to digest fats, stunted growth and fatty buildup in the liver.

Deficiency symptoms of Choline include

• Over fatty liver
• Nerve degeneration
• High blood pressure
• Thrombosis
• High blood cholesterol

Sources of Choline:

The main sources of choline vitamin are as:-

• It is mainly found in whole grains, liver, eggs, beans, chicken, fish and vegetable foods.

• You get choline in your diet from foods that contain lecithin, which the body breaks down into choline. Some foods that contain lecithin are rice, red meat, cabbage, cauliflower, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, green beans, split peas, and soy lecithin.

• Lecithin is also a common food additive; it's used in ice cream, margarine, mayonnaise and chocolate bars to help bind the fat in these foods with water.