1.       Possibly a Higher Probability of Fulll Term Babies - our kids were both 41 weeks at birth (and so were virtually all our friends who also used choline) - and while there are many possible factors that might result in preterm birth - I suspect that good nutrition,  and low stress (or low stress /low cortisol) experienced by the fetus is going to result in a higher probability of being full term.  I've see research that if a mother-to-be takes folate / folic acid a year prior to conception - the rate of preterm birth is lower by 69% - and this suggests that Vitamin B like substances (like Choline) may have a roll in reducing risk of pre-term birth.  Since its now known that less than full term babies have a much higher rate of a large number of neurodevelopmental and other issues - I think that high choline kids might be benefiting from the choline in many different ways. 

2.    More alert and awake - this is especially noticeable during the first 3 months when many children have a tendency to be less alert.

3.    Fast to become full-night sleepers / Good Sleepers.  Our children started sleeping through the night (i.e. 6 to 8 hours sleep) at around 10 weeks or so.  I think that higher choline kids may (because the are less stressed) sleep better and sleep longer, earlier than regular kids who may be more sensitive and therefore wake up more frequently.

4.    Faster learning - of languages, etc. - At our first child's 2 year checkup the pediatrician said (unprompted by us) that she was amazed at the verbal and cognitive development, and as our child chatted away during the exam she said it was rare to see a child so advanced at that age.  Additionally, the 3 to 4 year old high choline kids I know speak two languages fluently, with vocabularies of several thousand words in each language. The children are also beginning to read at this age.

5.   Low Stress Response to Higher Stress Situations - In talking with other parents - I think that one common feature our children share is that some common higher-stress situations are not perceived as higher stress by our children.  The frequent vaccination shots when your child is very young are not so big a deal with high choline kids.  Our kids hardly cry at all, or perhaps at most for 5 or 10 seconds of light crying after a vaccination shot.  As you wait in the pediatrician's waiting room - you hear many kids screaming very loudly and persistently for a long time.  Our kids seem to view these experiences with much less concern.

6.   Faster Motor Skill Acquisition - most of our kids seem to start walking around age 9 months. (and by walking I mean able to walk across a 12 foot room without falling down).  Here is a video of our first child walking at about 9 and 1/2 months:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hp6dheEgvo

7.       Very good long term memory (kids recall stories from when they were much younger unprompted, and in great detail).

8.       Naturally Low anxiety (our children never have really shown any stranger anxiety), and low fear (our children -- both boys and girls -- love handling snakes, bugs and crabs and other new things) but fear can be learned very quickly if exposed to a fearful situation. For example, one of the children's grandparents showed our daughter the Disney movie "Dumbo" and our daughter became afraid of the dark so we had to start leaving the hallway light on for about a 10 months.  I've discovered that older Disney movies have many terrifying scenes for young children  (think Dumbo's mother being taken away from her children, Bambi's mother's death, etc.) so we avoid them now.

9.       Choline-Induced reduction in sleep requirements  (for children between the ages of 4 months to about 2 years) - in a dose-dependent manner.  At age 4 months  our first child began eating egg yolks (from boiled eggs) crushed and mixed with yogurt - and we found pretty consistent results. One egg yolk generally resulted in a skipped nap (when two naps was typical) - and two egg yolks resulted in all the naps being skipped that day - and the child would be alert and full of energy until late in the evening (meanwhile all the other kids would be melting down and headed off to bed).

Stress in pregnancy 'lowers a child's IQ.
Source: Daily Mail, UK
Date: 24/11/2005

Fiona MacRae, in the Daily Mail, reports on research at Imperial College London, which has revealed that pregnant women who are stressed double the risk of their babies having lower than average IQs. Professor Vivette Glover, who conducted the study, followed the progress of almost 70 women and their children. The children of women who were believed to have suffered greater levels of stress during pregnancy scored around 90 in subsequent tests, compared to an average score of 100 for children whose mothers were deemed to have experienced less stress during pregnancy.

In interview with Vivette Glover, perinatal psychobiologist, Imperial College, England

Q: How and why do you think that the stress experienced by mothers during pregnancy can affect the unborn child?

A: We found two possible mechanisms by which maternal stress during pregnancy could affect the development of the baby. One is if the mother is very anxious or stressed while she's pregnant, there's reduced blood flow to the baby through the uterine arteries, the main source of blood and nutrition for the baby, and this could explain why the baby doesn't grow as well and also set up a secondary stress response in the fetus. Second, we have shown that if the mother has high levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone, so does the fetus. It seems that enough cortisol crosses the placenta from the mother to the fetus to actually affect fetal levels. So if the mother is stressed, her cortisol goes up, so does the cortisol level in the fetus. This in turn could well affect the development of the brain and the future stress responses of the baby.

Q: In what ways could a mother's cortisol levels affect the baby?

A: We're realising now that the development of the brain is sensitive to the hormones that are around it, and particularly cortisol, just as it is to alcohol, smoking or other drugs. And that the cortisol level that the fetus experiences will set a number of brain receptors to cortisol and this in turn will set later responses. It's very important that we learn to understand what's the optimal development here because it's much easier to change things while they're being made than to try and change them later. If, for example, it turns out that high levels of maternal stress--or even different methods of delivery, really have adverse affects on the development of the baby's brain, it's important to understand more about this and address it at this period, than have children with behavioral problems more difficult to resolve later.

Q: What effect does different methods of delivery have on a newborn's stress response?

A: The most stressful thing that happens to any baby is being born, compared to anything else that goes on. We're very concerned about the experience of the mother during pregnancy and her pain and a lot's done for the mother but very little attention is paid to the baby. But we now know from looking at cortisol levels in the umbilical cord immediately after birth that birth is very distressful for the baby and different types of delivery induce different levels of stress. We've found that babies born by elective cesarean had the lowest response. Those born by normal vaginal birth had an intermediate response. And those born by assisted delivery, such as with forceps or suction, had the biggest response. We then looked at eight-week-old babies who'd been born by these different methods and looked at their stress responses to a vaccination by measuring saliva cortisol. This showed that, at least for the first eight weeks, delivery method affects the behavior, the stress response of the baby. And it may well have a much more long-term effect, so that's the next thing we need to study.

But we can't assume that the least stressful delivery is the best for the child. I think it's likely that a normal vaginal delivery is actually best. Because we know that babies born by elective caesarean, for example, don't breathe so well just after they're born. It's likely that the amount of stress associated with a normal vaginal delivery does get the baby best adjusted to the outside world. But what I think we can be concerned about is that some assisted deliveries put a very high level of stress on the baby and this may be damaging.

What are you looking at with your current research?

A: Well all the evidence we have so far suggests that the very early period is important for the long-term stress responses. But we need much more evidence to actually pinpoint what is exactly going on; when during pregnancy does stress matter, what degree of stress becomes harmful and so on. Our current research is to try and find out more about the long term affects of stress in pregnancy on the behavior of a child, and we're using about ten thousand women who've been followed through pregnancy to actually determine properly whether pre-natal stress as opposed to post-natal does have an effect on the child. We also intend to follow up children who've been born by different methods up to the age of one or two and see how long the different types of delivery actually affect their stress responses. We know it affects up to eight weeks, but does it carry on for one year, two years or for life?

Q: Many women feel the need to return to work as soon as possible after having a baby, even working at home. What effects might the stress of juggling work and early motherhood have?

A: We don't know enough in terms of our changing lifestyles and their effect on the future generation. But I think we do need to do a lot of research to actually find out what our changing lifestyles are doing to us and particularly to our children. It's clear that from birth, babies are very sensitive to their mother's feelings. If the mother is stressed or depressed, the baby picks up on it, can cry more, [and] you get a bad interaction. We know that if mothers are depressed in the very early weeks or months, this often has an effect on the interaction with the child. And this in turn has long term harmful effects on the development of the child. The children have more behavioral problems, more cognitive problems, the boys may have a lower IQ. So the very early mother-baby interaction is very important for the later development of the child. And a very stressed mother can interfere with this. Alternatively, the good news is that very good mothering early on can actually help to undo some of the possible damage that might have been caused during the fetal period. So that the whole system is very plastic both for benefit and harm in this very early period.

I think that all our research is making us more aware that very early mothering is absolutely crucial. And that perhaps women should take a bit of time off work, certainly in the early months, to make sure that they get a good relationship going with their baby. I think that this has implications for society as a whole and governments, that we need to give women time to establish the relationship with their child, help them to be in as good an emotional state as possible, while they have a new baby. And then go back to work later. I think that politicians maybe have a role to play here, that they ought to be aware that for the sake of the emotional health of future generations, encouraging mothering and parenting is very important.

I get questions occasionally from blog readers - here is one recent question from someone I've emailed with before.

"Hope all is going well for you, we corresponded last fall and I wanted to possibly ask you some questions about your post in January.  According to your site the pharmacist recommends starting at day 56 during pregnancy with the increased amounts of choline (around 3.5 grams) and then continue at this increased amount, or at least elevated amounts until age four correct?  I am currently supplementing at 1200 mg choline bitartrate once daily, yielding 480 mg of choline by molecular weight. (We aren't planning on trying to conceive till next summer) I plan on starting on day 56 during the gestational period, supplementing at 3600 mg choline bitartrate yielding approximately 1440 mg choline by weight.  Do you think I should adjust this amount and increase it to at least 1500 mg or more?  Also did you see this article? (http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-transgenerational-effect-antibiotics.html) thought you might be interested. 

I had one more question in mind to ask you, which unfortunately will be totally subjective and essentially anecdotal from you, but in giving your children high choline diets, and seeing them perhaps be somewhat fearless, does this concern you to any degree in their future decision making capabilities.  And also specifically when it comes to mood, anxiety, and empathy do you feel as though perhaps the choline has had any effect?"

"The pharmacist that took the class with Steven Zeisel - the top researcher on Choline  - said that Zeisel in his classes (I think about a decade ago) recommended at least 1.5 grams of choline (and by that he meant the actual amount of choline - not a precursor) starting at day 56 (new research is also showing that taking choline prior to and early in pregnancy reduces risk of neural tube defects) .  So - I think somewhere between 1.5 grams/day and the Tolerable upper limit that we did of 3.5 grams is what I would do if I had another child (and given our success with 3.5 grams/day before - I'd probably do it at this level again, if not a little higher).

One thing I would change given my discussions with other parents who have supplemented at higher rates -and their results - is that I would now do the following now:

1.       I would take at least 75% (and as much as 100%) of whatever type of choline you take (or a minimum of 1.5 grams/day)  in Lecithin form (i.e. phosphatidylcholine).  Probably the Triple strength lecithin that some manufacturers offer, or just mix in the lecithin granules as other parents have done (and I do with my kids).  This is due to two things - I've talked to one other parent (obviously - a very small sample size - but all of this is based on fundamental research in mammals with larger numbers - but small numbers in humans) - and it seems that with higher lecithin (or specifically phosphotidylcholine) - you get possibly more of an effect.  Also - much of the research data I've read uses either choline chloride or phosphatidylcholine - and since you can't in all practicality use choline chloride (it tastes terrible) - I think that phosphatidylcholine is the best way to go.  There really has been no research to my knowledge on the effectiveness of choline bitartrate or other forms of choline - in this type of application - so its uncharted territory (not that its likely to be unsafe - just not as effective).

        I say this because another parent I've been talking to did simply Lecithin supplementation - and has gotten the same positive results with their daughter as our first child - ie. very significant results.  Our second child did not have as significant results it seems right now (its hard to tell - the second child started walking at 9 months - so just as good as the first child, but the second child's verbal development is lagging significantly the first child's - still above average - but not as good as the first child's.  There are a number of confounding variables that make the link directly with type of choline a difficult one;  namely my wife caught the flu during her pregnancy during the end of her first trimester with the second child - and flu during pregnancy is well known to have a negative impact on IQ and brain development - so that could be the issue.  And the other 25% in choline bitartrate.  In our first pregnancy we started with 100% Lecithin choline  - about 1 gram a day before pregnancy and 1 gram during the first trimester.  Then we ramped it up - and then at some point fairly early on I found some research that suggested some negative potential issues with  higher levels of Soy Lecithin .. I think in some studies done in the mid-1980s it was at the level of 15 grams a day of Lecithin/day - and so that scared me to lowering the Lecithin - and going to 50% each on Lecithin Choline, and 50% Choline Bitartrate.  And that's what we did on the second child. 

2.       I can't "recommend" anything related to choline  to you - I'm just sharing with people our experiences and as much science behind our decision and ongoing developments in this area because I think it has the potential to help a lot of people, and make the world a better place.  I can tell you what I'd do if I was to have another child - but beyond that, it's a very personal decision.  There are risks associated with this type of thing -  there isn't much human data / studies on this supplementation program, but I think the data that I do see, and the information I've gotten from the researchers in private discussions suggests that they think the risk of negative results is very low.  So - make your own choice given your personal risk profile. Or do more research if you aren't comfortable with the lack of solid research.  This is your child - its a big deal.  Don't take these decisions lightly.  One of the key reasons that we ended up supplementing at the higher levels of choline is because my wife was quite stressed at work during the first pregnancy (it was during the whole financial meltdown) and I know that a lot of research indicates that higher stress levels has very negative impacts on the brain of the baby during pregnancy - so we were using the choline as a risk reduction strategy against a very well known negative factor - Stress during pregnancy (Stress during pregnancy  is very well known to lower intelligence, and increase risk of mental illness -- because it seems to change the developmental process of the HPA axis in the brain, which is strongly linked to mental illness) - so Look at the big picture.  My personal belief is that perhaps the biggest benefit of high levels of choline during pregnancy is that it greatly reduces the risk of mental illness in children of mothers who are anxious or who experience higher stress levels during pregnancy.

         On the transgenerational effects of antibiotics and the link you sent to me - I think that we'll be learning a lot about epigenetics over the coming decade and longer.  This is one example  - but there are many others.  I think the research on epigenetics would suggest that the impact of higher levels of choline would be similarly transgenerational - but I haven't seen any data on this.  Its an interesting question.

3.       On the issue of Choline potentially making the kids lower anxiety, and more fearless  (see the recent posting in my blog about the Cornell research).  That's an interesting question - certainly it can be positive or a negative situation depending upon the environment.  If our kids are in a less safe environment and they are not predisposed to anxiety they may miss certain clues or take risks that cause problems.  So that is a concern.  At the same time - what I've seen so far in our kids is that - at least with the older child - the increased intelligence/memory seems to more than outweight that potential issue - as she learns quickly and avoids issues so that seems to mitigate the risk significantly.  Our younger child its too early to tell .  Generally my opinion is that people in today's world are far more anxious than the environment would suggest.  Due to a lot of negative TV news in the US - I think the general perception is that we live in a dangerous society (and certainly in parts of the US, and parts of the world, things are still very dangerous ) - but the research I've seen suggests that we generally vastly over-rate the "danger" that we face in modern society.  Generally - we are much safer than we were 50 years ago, and probably much, much safer than we were 100 years ago.  So my person vote is the intelligence/memory is going to be more important and more valuable than a higher propensity to anxiety and fear.  Its really a person "bet" on what the world will look like when our kids are 20 to 50 years old - so obviously a difficult forecast for anyone.  Anxiety can be valuable in a risky, dangerous world - I'm hoping that we're going to continue to move away from that direction in the next 50 years. We'll see.

4.       On the mood/anxiety/empathy - I think our kids are lower anxiety, generally much less shy, more outgoing than most kids.  Our children have never displayed much stranger anxiety - as many of our peer's children have.  Our 3.5 year old child enthusiastically picks up spiders, snakes, crabs, etc. - and plays with them (with reasonable care), without any issues.  My wife is not so predisposed.  I encourage the lack of fear in these areas - I tend to think that a more fearless perspective on life is probably a good thing generally.  As far as empathy - I think that's something that you teach a child - they'll be as empathetic as you are to their needs and experiences.  I think High-choline kids learn quicker - so if you have a stressful / unempathetic environment - they might learn from these negative experiences faster than the average kid - but I don't think choline has any impact on something like empathy directly.

Hope that helps,

Admin  (AT) cholinebaby.com

Dietary Reference Intakes for Choline - National Academies of Science Press

The Scientist: Prof. Caudill Researches the Effects of Choline on Fetal Development

Caudill researches the effects of the essential nutrient choline on fetal development and child growth.

Anyone who has ever held a relative's baby knows there are usually two types: the ones who can be passed around, smiling and giggling, and the ones who scream and cry once separated from their mothers. According to Prof. Marie Caudill, nutritional sciences, the reason for this difference may lie in the placental environment in which the baby developed.

Caudill researches the effects of the essential nutrient choline on fetal development and child growth. She is internationally recognized for her studies with folate and choline and recently presented her research at an international conference held at the University of Leipzig in Germany.

Choline is sometimes considered the unknown essential nutrient, because although the body does not produce it and not many people have heard of it, it is needed for good health. Choline is typically grouped with the B vitamins, although  it doesn't technically meet the definition of a B vitamin. In the body, choline serves three main functions. First, it is required to make the phospholipid phosphatidylcholine.

"Phosphatidylcholine is a component of all cell membranes that is required for proper cell functioning," Caudill said.

"During pregnancy, large amounts of phosphatidylcholine are needed to support the rapidly dividing cells of the developing fetus, which increases the mother's dietary requirement for choline."she said said.

In addition to making phospholipids, Choline plays an integral part in neurotransmission in its acetylcholine form.  Acetylcholine is involved in memory and learning.

"Many studies involving rodents have shown that giving mom more choline during her pregnancy improves the cognitive ability of her offspring throughout their entire lifespan," Caudill said.

Although choline may be taken by adults, the amount of choline that one is exposed to while still in the placenta has a stronger effect over time according to Caudill.

Choline's third function is to modulate levels of stress. The apprehension and anxiety characteristic of stress is often caused by a steroid hormone called cortisol.

The release of cortisol is the end product of what is known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. The hypothalamus, in the lower part of the brain, produces the neurotransmitter corticotrpin-releasing hormone, which then travels to the anterior pituitary gland. CRH stimulates the anterior pituitary gland to release another hormone, known as adrenocorticotropic hormone, which in turn travels to the adrenal cortex via the blood circulation.

The adrenal cortex, which is located on top of the kidney, is directly releases cortisol. Once released, cortisol mediates the metabolic increases of the stress response.

"Data from my research group showed that giving pregnant women more choline lowered circulating levels of cortisol in her baby," Caudill said. "The lower circulating cortisol in babies born to the mothers consuming extra choline suggests that HPA activity and reaction to stress may be lower in these babies. While the long-term consequences of our finding are unknown, others have reported a reduction in anxiety, improved learning and memory and a lower risk of stress-related diseases like hypertension among offspring with lower HPA axis activity."

According to Caudill, the key to choline's effect on the HPA axis lies in how choline affects the methylation state of placental DNA, which are the points at which DNA sequences have attached methyl groups. 

"The mechanism by which extra choline influences cortisol production relates to its role as a methyl donor," Caudill said. "We found that giving mom more choline increased the number of methyl groups and lowered the expression of genes involved in regulating the amount of cortisol produced by the HPA axis. We also found that giving mom more choline during pregnancy increased the number of methyl groups across the entire DNA sequence in the placenta which may improve genome stability and placental function"

Despite its integral part in fetal development, choline is not widely sought after as an essential nutrient during pregnancy, even though sources of choline are widely available. Some sources include egg yolks, beef, pork, legumes, and chicken, as well as broccoli and brussel sprouts.

"In the future, we'd like to see if choline may be used in a therapeutic way to lower the heightened activity of the HPA axis among babies born to mothers who experience stress, anxiety and depression during pregnancy," Caudill said.

"We'd also like to see if consuming extra choline during pregnancy may be helpful in improving placental function and enhancing cognitive abilities in the human offspring."

Caudill's research may provide additional tools for fetal programming, or the changing of the placental environment to selectively affect the fetus. Further research with choline may help make smarter, happier and healthier babies. More results of Dr. Caudill's finding will soon be published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

A few years back I stumbled on choline as a possible beneficial supplement for my wife during her pregnancy, and researched the matter as best I could.  Since the human trial results on dose were not in yet (and the trials I am most interest in from one of the National Institutes have results but are not yet approved for release), I decided to make sure my wife had adequate choline during pregnancy and a year of nursing, rather than heavily "supplementing," and so added 1 tablespoon (1/2 the "recommended" dosage) of the Lewis Lab soy lecithin product to her diet (7.5 g of soy granules, 1.625 g phoyspadital choline, 175 mg inositol) in addition to making sure high choline foods were on the menu (pork, fish, cauliflower, etc).  I researched soy lecithin and found it did not contain soy esters that folks thought might be harmful, but turned up nothing else negative.  I checked the other nutrients delivered with the soy, and determined they were not in excess for pregnancy.  We introduced lecithin mid-to-late the first trimester simply because I had not done any research on it earlier.  We also followed a diet with DHA supplementation, prenatal vitamins, added protein, as much organics as possible, no alcohol, etc.

So, here is our purely anecdotal evidence from the field: the development of both our children (4 years and 5 months now) continues to astonish us.  Both are advanced for their ages, and the oldest always seemed to be one of the "first" in her peer group to reach milestones.  The oldest has a memory that keeps everything, and at 3.5 had no problem recalling a trip to Arizona we took when she was 19 months.  (One day in a book store she walked up to a US map on the wall of the children's reading area, pointed to pictures of the cactus and pueblos in the south west, and proceeded to talk about who we visited on vacation in Arizona.)  At 19 months she could count to ten and was fully potty trailed (on her own) by 20 months.  She is bilingual, can now count to 100, knows the abcs, can read simple words up to 3 or 4 letters, and can do some basic math.   She is also very outgoing, balanced and, oddly enough, somewhat fearless.  Other than my wife taking the 7.5 g of lecithin for the first year when she breastfeed, we have not tried to add lots of choline to the 4 year-old's diet.

Like her older sister, our 5 month old had a very "knowing" look from day one.  Neither of our children ever went through that listless new born phase, and seemed fully ready to go right from the start.  She started to smile at 2.5 months, engaged in responsive cooing about at the same time, has expressed interest in solid food at 5 months, can roll on her side now, and is trying to crawl.  She is mellower than her big sister, but seems to be reaching milestones faster.

-- A --

Thanks for the information and update. Please keep us informed how things progress over the coming years.

Remember - if you want to email me, just contact me at admin @ cholinebaby.com

When I have more free time, I will fix the comment feature or add some discussions areas here.

I tend to follow closely Dr. Zeisel's research after hearing his presentation when I was in college around 2000.

Dr. Zeisel says to start at day 56 of human pregnancy. As a pharmacist, I keep copies of this article handy to provide to my pregnant patients if they ask for it. Dr. Zeisel says that if you do not start this early and ideally continue therapy THROUGH age 4 of the child, you will not see benefits. 

Feeding your children 3500mg in the 3rd trimester will not be sufficient [to achieve the same good results on the child's brain and memory as if you started at day 56 of the pregnancy] according to Zeisel. You may not be able to overdose the patient after the key developmental period has elapsed and still expect the same results. Further, you can't stop prematurely [before age 4], to expect Zeisel's [strong memory] results."

My take home from this is to start taking the higher levels of choline (somewhere between 1500 mg and 3,500 mg) at day 56 - and continue, if you can - through the pregnancy, and then also have higher than normal choline dosages with the child from birth through age 4 years.  What "higher dosages" of choline mean in a child age 0 to 4 is not really studied.  Our effort has been to get our children to get about 400 to 600 mg/day via eggs (about 80mg per egg of choline) and lecithin mixed with food.  But as anyone will tell you with children - getting them to eat what you want them to eat - is frequently challenging - so I don't claim to have met that goal.

admin (at) cholinebaby.com

Usually too technical for people - but if you have some basic science education its pretty interesting, it has all the information on all the studies and side effects, etc.:

Dietary Reference Intakes for Choline - National Academies of Science Press

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=6015&page=390

While I was looking through some of your posts in your website I was hoping to ask you a few questions about your personal experience with choline supplementation.  Firstly, why did you decide to go almost exclusively with a salt such as choline bitartrate for your first child vs phosphatidylcholine or choline from lecithin.  It looks as though you decided at some point to change this with your second child and go about half with a salt and half with a phospholipid.  I was perhaps wondering if you still feel one vs the other is better in terms of potential benefits during pregnancy and specifically for the child.  I understand the different bioavailability of the two, but was hoping for your thoughts on other specific mechanisms, (side effects on pregnant female, potency, cost, bioavailability, etc).  Also, you must forgive me it has been a while since I took my college biology courses and biochemistry, but were you concerned with a possibility of over-methylation during gestation?  I most definitely feel there is a huge advantage to choline, folic acid, and other methyl donors but always want to be vigilant in determining risk vs benefit of a particular amount of supplement.  Accordingly did you supplement with 3500 mg of choline bitartrate, yielding approximately, 1400 mg of choline, or was the total amount of choline 3500 mg? 

And also I am assuming this amount is based on a daily regimen of 3 times a normal daily intake of approximately 400-500 mg.  Also if you don't mind my asking what type and/or brand of prenatal vitamin did your wife use pre, peri and post gestation?  And lastly, given the same circumstances would you do anything different specifically (and non-specifically) with the choline supplementation for your children?

Regarding this "why did you decide to go almost exclusively with a salt such as choline bitartrate for your first child vs phosphatidylcholine or choline from lecithin.  It looks as though you decided at some point to change this with your second child and go about half with a salt and half with a phospholipid.  I was perhaps wondering if you still feel one vs the other is better in terms of potential benefits during pregnancy and specifically for the child"

There is some research on high levels of lecithin being bad for child development - you can find it in http://pubmed.org - it was done back in the 80s - and at high levels - like 15 grams/day.  That scared me off the high Lecithin diet - but then with the second pregnancy I decided to try a balanced approach - 50% each.   There is no real research data to validate either strategy.  Our first child seems to be developing at a faster rate than the second - but that could be due to other factors like a close pregnancy (18 months between births) or stress of having the second child while taking care of the first, and/or my wife getting the flu at the end of the first trimester on the second child.  So - its hard to say. We experienced no problems of any kind during the pregnancy or after with the 3.5 Grams/day. Both children started walking at 9 months, both children are advanced for their age - but the first child is much, much more advanced for his age.

In all my calculations I'm calculating the actual amount of choline in the supplement (e.g. in this tablet we used

http://www.iherb.com/Nature-s-Way-Choline-500-mg-Bitartrate-100-Tablets/1877?at=0

I calculated 500mg for each tablet - so we might take 7 of these, and this Lecithin (triple strength) at

http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-Lecithin-1200-mg-200-Softgels/658?at=0

at 1.14 grams per three capsules - so around 9 or 10 capsules to reach 3.5 grams.

During age 6 months to 3 years - I've tried to average about 300 to 400 mg for the children - primiarly via egg yolks (egg yolk omletes, egg yolks mixed with yogurt when they are age 6 months to 1 year), and then egg yolk French toast, etc. mixed with Lecithin ). 

admin (at) cholinebaby.com

Hi,

I'm a little confused by when the choline is required. I know entirely throughout pregnancy would be optimal, however I have also come across some information that says only in the third trimester. What is your experience/knowledge with this? I am currently 24 weeks pregnant and have been able to have eggs on and off.

Thanks,
Lisa

My Response was:

Hi Lisa,

The most important time for prenatal choline supplementation seems to be the last 20 weeks of pregnancy - and this is when it seems to have the largest impact on intelligence.  But its also important to have it for the year following - during breast feeding. 

"Nuances in choline action are showing up. By narrowing the window of prenatal supplementation, Williams and others have identified only two small periods during which extra choline boosts a rat's intelligence. The first is from days 12 to 17 in gestation. This correlates roughly with the second half of a human pregnancy. The other window runs from 2 to 4 weeks after birth - a period that corresponds loosely with human infancy and toddlerhood."  source: Science News Online, Week of Nov. 3, 2001; Vol. 160, No. 18

We supplemented with 1 grams of choline per day during the first half of the pregnancy (and on average 2 to 4 egg yolks per day), and then around 3 grams (it's a lot of choline) during the last 20 weeks.  We supplemented with both Choline Bitartrate and triple strength lecithin. In one child we used more Lecithin (perhaps 75% lecithin, and the other child we split it 50%/50% Soy Lecithin-based choline, and Choline Bitartrate.

Hope that helps,

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