Choline supplement during pregnancy
Choline during pregnancy impacts children's sustained attention
A recent study found that seven-year-old children performed better on a difficult task requiring sustained attention if their mothers had consumed a high amount of choline during their late pregnancy. Research in rodents had previously demonstrated this beneficial association.
What is Choline? An Essential Supplement with Many Benefits
Choline , or phosphatidylcholine in its full name, is a natural essential nutrient, necessary for cell membranes and the synthesis of many chemical messengers in the body. It plays a concrete role in the synthesis of fatty substances found between skin cells and which helps to provide cohesion to the skin barrier, as well as in the detoxification of the liver by preventing the accumulation of cholesterol and fats from food in the body. Finally, in the nervous system, choline plays a role in the synthesis of certain neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine. During pregnancy , a deficiency causes abnormalities in the development of the child's brain, which can have serious and lasting repercussions.
In some countries, a supplemental choline intake is systematically prescribed to pregnant and breastfeeding women: this is the case in the United States for example. Several decades of scientific research conducted on rodents have shown that adding extra choline to the diet of pregnant women promotes long-term cognitive benefits for their future child. In particular, their attention and memory throughout their life, and this is what researchers from Cornell University (United States) wanted to verify in a recent study published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) in its journal.
Cognitive and neuroprotective benefits already demonstrated in animals
The team found that choline , found in egg yolks, lean red meat, fish, poultry, legumes, nuts, and cruciferous vegetables, is missing from most prenatal vitamins given to pregnant women. In fact, a majority of women are likely not getting enough of it . In this study, all participants ate a diet formulated with a specified amount of choline throughout the third trimester of pregnancy. Half consumed 480 mg of choline per day, slightly above the U.S. recommended adequate intake level of 450 mg/day. The other half consumed 930 mg of choline per day, about double the recommendation.
Tests were then conducted on the children of these participants seven years later. The results showed that the children of women who consumed 480 mg/day of choline during their third trimester of pregnancy showed lower performance in terms of sustained attention during a task compared to the children of women who consumed 930 mg/day, who maintained a high level of accuracy throughout the task. "By demonstrating that maternal choline supplementation in humans produces benefits for offspring similar to those observed in animals, our results suggest that the range of cognitive and neuroprotective benefits demonstrated in rodents can also be observed in humans," the researchers say.
An improvement in sustained attention, an important cognitive ability
The latter had already demonstrated in a previous study that maternal choline supplementation improved the speed of information processing throughout the first year of life in these same children. Until now, little research conducted on humans has evaluated the effect of maternal choline supplementation and this is the first study to follow children until school age. "By showing that the beneficial effects of prenatal choline supplementation last until childhood, these results illustrate its role in programming the child's cognitive development. The ability to maintain sustained attention in difficult situations is essential to almost all areas of cognitive performance, " conclude the scientific team.
It should be noted, however, that there are precautions to take with choline in the form of dietary supplements. Vidal specifies that in people suffering from liver problems or those suffering from trimethylaminuria (a genetic disease), "taking choline gives a rotten fish smell to urine, sweat and breath". Taking choline is also not recommended for people suffering from depression or Parkinson's disease, to avoid a possible worsening of symptoms. As for pregnant and breastfeeding women, the journal reminds them of the importance of discussing a possible choline-based treatment with their doctor, but never resorting to it alone without medical supervision.
