What is it about?
Choline can be likened to omega-3 fatty acids in that it is an ‘essential’ nutrient and not all people can produce enough choline to cover their needs. The United States (US) Institute of Medicine (IoM) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recognise that choline plays an important role in the human body and have established dietary reference values. The American Medical Association (AMA) in 2017 published new advice stating that prenatal vitamin supplements should contain ‘evidenced-based’ amounts of choline. Similarly the American Academy of Paediatrics’ (AAP) , (from 2018) called on paediatricians to move beyond simply recommending a “good diet” and to make sure that pregnant women and young children have access to food that provides adequate amounts of “brain-building” nutrients with choline being listed as one of these. Unfortunately, in the UK choline is not yet included in food composition databases, main nutrition surveys nor official recommendations. The present paper discusses the current choline situation and explains why more needs to be done to include and monitor this essential nutrient in the UK.
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Perspectives
The intention of this paper is to raise choline awareness. In the UK this nutrients is currently not included within dietary surveys nor databases. More studies are also needed to look at choline bioavailability from different foods, human intakes and blood status amongst different population groups.
Emma Derbyshire
Nutritional Insight
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Could we be overlooking a potential choline crisis in the United Kingdom?, BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health, August 2019, BMJ,
DOI: 10.1136/bmjnph-2019-000037.
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