The brain nutrient vegans need to know about

a reply to: tulsi

Interesting! The article states that potatoes are in the top 12 for pesticide sprays. Damn... Another thing i have to buy organic!

Now i think i might buy some potatoes later

a reply to: blueman12

I just thought of something else along those lines... the diagnosis of Type II Diabetes has skyrocketed in recent years, and one dietary caution is to avoid high-car foods like potatoes. When I was growing up, potatoes were a staple food.

Still anecdotal, but another interesting correlation nonetheless. Overall, without the vegan connection (which has been established to my satisfaction as simply benefiting greatly from supplements), what do you really think of the possibility that a lack of sufficient choline in the diet could lead to mental deficiency?

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Im not sure. I haven't researched it. I would be glad to look at any studies that aren't funded by the meat industry.

I'd like to know more, but this "study" was the first time i heard ofcthe link between choline and brain deficiency.

It's hard to keep up on stuff like this.

a reply to: blueman12

I posit to you that who does the study is not always a representation of the accuracy of the study. There is little incentive for people to do unfunded studies, and those who are willing to pay for the studies are also those who have a vested stake in the results one way or another. It's one thing to state that a study may be biased because of assumptions or questionable conclusions, but quite another to dismiss a study out of hand because of who funded it.

I found some initial information on choline here. While it is obviously not a controlled study, the claims are pretty much in line with what I have been postulating.

Choline is a nootropic — a supplement that enhances cognitive function. Since you use so much acetylcholine when you’re calculating, processing, and problem-solving, having enough choline means having the acetylcholine you need for attention and focus. Bonus: more choline available to your brain means less brain inflammation, which is great for learning, memory, focus, and mood.

You might be deficient in choline if you experience things like:

• Ongoing tiredness or fatigue
  
• Reduced ability to think things through or problem solve
  
• Difficulty picking up new information
  
• Emotional swings or mood disorders
  
• Memory trouble
  
• Muscle aches
  
• Nerve pain or tingling

(The first symptom is what caused me to investigate choline in the first place.)

The same article also mentions another potential issue with health of Americans that we are all too familiar with:

Another function of choline is fat transport. Choline has a crucial role in bringing fats out of the liver for your body to use. You need your body to be able to take fats out of the liver and send it into the bloodstream so that your body can use it for energy, to help absorb fat-soluble nutrients, and to make brain components such as myelin. On the flipside, if fat stays in the liver, you end up with fatty liver disease, which can cause pain, enlargement of the liver, extreme fatigue, and toxic overload.

So a lack of sufficient choline can also lead to fat accumulation and weight gain.

I mentioned earlier that acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter which activates the nicotinic receptors, which are also activated by nicotine. It is established fact that smokers who quit are much more likely to gain weight in the process than others. This could easily be due to a lack of choline in the body which causes them to need the nicotine. If the nicotine is removed, without a change in lifestyle to replace it with choline, this known action of choline can be seen to lead to weight gain.

I also found this site that exposes the advantages of pasture-raised turkeys over factory farm turkeys. Among the advantages listed for pasture-raised turkeys is a claim that pasture raised turkeys are higher in several nutrients including choline. Now, this is a site devoted to promoting pasture-raised turkeys, so I would expect it to be somewhat biased; yet the claim may indeed be true.

TheRedneck

really don't see how anyone can trust buying veggies from supermarts, strangers even if its at a farmers mart (and evenmore ambiguous 'meat') nowadays with all the additives that is soaked up even right before harvest; its become a widespread open practice to bathe wheat and likely many other crops with copious amounts of glyphosate in order for a better dry, harvest, and crisp hence cereal for breakfast is notorious now for being teeming with monsatan's roundup poison!

anyway, so what are the densest sources for choline? so far in my findings they are all vegan, ie moringa leaves or pods and wheat germ and quinoa, not meats.