Have you ever heard of choline?
If you’re like a lot of people, it’s probably not on your radar… and, like 90% of Americans, you may fall short of the recommended daily amount.
That’s concerning because choline is just as vital to your health as other nutrients that are more often in the spotlight.
It’s essential for regulating memory, mood, muscle control and many other bodily functions.
But it is choline’s strong connection to brain health that has researchers studying its potential link to anxiety disorders.
If you’re one of the many Americans living with anxiety, this just might help you…
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Choline levels are lower in people with anxiety
Dr. Richard Maddock is a psychiatrist and research professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California.
Dr. Maddox is the senior author of a study that compared the levels of neurometabolites — chemicals produced during brain metabolism — in 370 people with anxiety disorders to 342 people without anxiety.
Other emotional disorders, like schizophrenia, have long been linked to chemical patterns in the brain. But although anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorder among adults, it’s taken this long to explore the connection.
“This is the first meta-analysis to show a chemical pattern in the brain in anxiety disorders,” says Prof. Jason Smucny, the study’s co-author.
The study found that choline levels were about 8% lower in people with anxiety disorders, especially in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps control thinking, emotions and behavior.
“An 8% lower amount doesn’t sound like that much, but in the brain it’s significant,” Dr. Maddock says.
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Eating to benefit from choline
“We don’t know yet if increasing choline in the diet will help reduce anxiety. More research will be needed,” says Dr. Maddock. He cautions that people with anxiety should not self-medicate with excessive choline supplements.
But choline has long been considered an essential nutrient for proper brain function. In fact, previous research points to choline as a potential preventative to Alzheimer’s, MS and Parkinson’s.
And eating healthy foods that are rich in choline can’t hurt. According to a scientific paper published in the journal Nutrition Today, choline isn’t just an underappreciated essential nutrient — it is an underconsumed one, too.
Luckily, there are plenty of healthy foods rich in choline. Meat, fish, dairy and eggs are the primary sources, but there are some vegetable sources as well (you will just need to eat more of those if you are not a meat eater).
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To reap the many benefits of choline, eat more of the foods you see below…
- Liver
- Salmon — 3 ounces contains about 34% of the RDA
- Caviar — 3 ounces has 52% of the RDA
- Beef
- Chicken and turkey
- Eggs
- Cottage cheese
- Shiitake mushrooms — one cup provides 21% of the daily allowance
- Soybeans
- Wheat germ
- Cruciferous vegetables — a cup of cooked cauliflower has 13% of the daily allowance, and a cup of cooked Brussels sprouts or broccoli offers 5%
- Almonds
- Lima beans
- Red potatoes
- Kidney beans
- Quinoa
If you need more plant-based sources, look here. But whatever your preference, just be sure this vital nutrient is part of your daily diet.
Sources:
Low choline levels in the brain associated with anxiety disorders — Eureka Alert
Transdiagnostic reduction in cortical choline-containing compounds in anxiety disorders: a 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy meta-analysis — Molecular Psychiatry
16 Foods That Are High in Choline — Healthline
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