top
Clinical Studies
References
Phosphatidyl Choline is a phospholipid and a major constituent of lecithin. Phosphatidyl Choline is essential to form acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. It demonstrates an inhibitory effect on cholesterol absorption. It may be beneficial in high homocysteine levels (associated with heart disease), depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, heart disease, peripheral vascular disorders, galbladder disease, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, eczema, elevated triglycerides, premenstrual syndrome, memory loss, brain function, Alzheimer's disease and aging.
Published Clinical Studiesclin
ALCOHOL: its metabolism and interaction with nutrients.1
Lieber CS.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Alcohol Research and Treatment Center, Section of Liver Disease and Nutrition, Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, New York 10468, USA. liebercs@aol.com
In the past, alcoholic liver disease was attributed exclusively to dietary deficiencies, but experimental and judicious clinical studies have now established alcohol's hepatotoxicity. Despite an adequate diet, it can contribute to the entire spectrum of liver diseases, mainly by generating oxidative stress through its microsomal metabolism via cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1). It also interferes with nutrient activation, resulting in changes in nutritional requirements. This is exemplified by methionine, one of the essential amino acids for humans, which needs to be activated to S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), a process impaired by liver disease. Thus, SAMe rather than methionine is the compound that must be supplemented in the presence of significant liver disease. In baboons, SAMe attenuated mitochondrial lesions and replenished glutathione; it also significantly reduced mortality in patients with Child A or B cirrhosis. Similarly, decreased phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase activity is associated with alcoholic liver disease, resulting in phosphatidylcholine depletion and serious consequences for the integrity of membranes. This can be offset by polyenylphosphatidylcholine (PPC), a mixture of polyunsaturated phosphatidylcholines comprising dilinoleoylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), which has high bioavailability. PPC (and DLPC) opposes major toxic effects of alcohol, with down-regulation of CYP2E1 and reduction of oxidative stress, deactivation of hepatic stellate cells, and increased collagenase activity, which in baboons, results in prevention of ethanol-induced septal fibrosis and cirrhosis. Corresponding clinical trials are ongoing.
Publication Types:
PMID: 10940340 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Lecithin consumption increases acetylcholine concentrations in rat brain and adrenal gland.2
Hirsch MJ, Wurtman RJ.
Consumption of a single meal containing lecithin, the major source of choline occurring naturally in the diet, increased the concentrations of choline and acetylcholine in rat brain and adrenal gland. Hence, the concentration of acetylcholine in the tissues may normally be under direct, short-term nutritional control.
PMID: 694529 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Choline: an essential dietary nutrient?3
Sheard NF, Zeisel SH.
Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Choline (trimethyl-beta-hydroxyethylammonium) is a quaternary amine which is widely distributed in plants and animals. It contains three methyl groups which are important in a number of metabolic reactions, including the synthesis of methionine and carnitine. Choline is also a component of the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin, important constituents of all cell membranes. Finally, choline is necessary for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Although this compound is considered an essential nutrient in numerous mammalian species, this has not been established for humans.
Publication Types:
PMID: 2520248 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Alcohol and the liver: 1994 update.4
Lieber CS.
Section of Liver Disease and Nutrition, Bronx VA Medical Center, New York.
This article reviews current concepts on the pathogenesis and treatment of alcoholic liver disease. It has been known that the hepatotoxicity of ethanol results from alcohol dehydrogenase-mediated excessive generation of hepatic nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, reduced form, and acetaldehyde. It is now recognized that acetaldehyde is also produced by an accessory (but inducible) microsomal pathway that additionally generates oxygen radicals and activates many xenobiotics to toxic metabolites, thereby explaining the increased vulnerability of heavy drinkers to industrial solvents, anesthetics, commonly used drugs, over-the-counter medications, and carcinogens. The contribution of gastric alcohol dehydrogenase to the first-pass metabolism of ethanol and alcohol-drug interactions is discussed. Roles for hepatitis C, cytokines, sex, genetics, and age are now emerging. Alcohol also alters the degradation of key nutrients, thereby promoting deficiencies as well as toxic interactions with vitamin A and beta carotene. Conversely, nutritional deficits may affect the toxicity of ethanol and acetaldehyde, as illustrated by the depletion in glutathione, ameliorated by S-adenosyl-L-methionine. Other "supernutrients" include polyunsaturated lecithin, shown to correct the alcohol-induced hepatic phosphatidylcholine depletion and to prevent alcoholic cirrhosis in nonhuman primates. Thus, a better understanding of the pathology induced by ethanol is now generating improved prospects for therapy.
Publication Types:
PMID: 8143977 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Fish meal lecithin as alternative precursor of docosahexaenoate and choline.5
Dahlan W, Chatnilbandhu S, Na-Nagara B, Carpentier YA.
Department of Transfusion Medicine, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Choline and docosahexaenoate (DHA) are essential nutrients for maintaining normal brain function. However, their existence in fish lecithin is ignored and excluded during the degumming step of conventional fish oil manufacturing process. The study aims to introduce fish lecithin as alternative precursor of choline and omega-3 fatty acids especially DHA for nutritional supplements. Four grades of Thai fish meals with protein contents ranging from 60-70% were used. Their lipid characteristics were examined. Fish meal's fats and lecithin were 9-15 and 2-3 g/100 g, respectively. Total fatty acids constitute 23-27% monoenes without erucic acid and 24-28% polyenes including 15-19% DHA. Lecithin with 50% purity was prepared from grade-1 fish meal by means of consecutive methanol/n-hexane/acetone extraction. The obtained lecithin contains choline upto 66-70 mole% with DHA reaches to 20-23%. Its peroxide value of 57 and acid value of 9 are accepted for food grade lecithin preparation, however, the further refinery process is still suggested. Since the world consumption of nutritional supplement foods is increasing steadily, the results of our study implies that fish lecithin is probably a promising source of choline and omega-3 fatty acids especially DHA for such an objective.
PMID: 8886341 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
6
Dietary soybean phosphatidylcholines lower lipidemia: mechanisms at the levels of intestine, endothelial cell, and hepato-biliary axis.
Mastellone I I, Polichetti E, Gres S, de la Maisonneuve C, Domingo N, Marin V V, Lorec A, Farnarier C, Portugal H, Kaplanski G, Chanussot F.
INSERM U. 476, Hopital Sainte Marguerite, Marseille, France
The beneficial metabolic effects of dietary soybean lecithin on lipid metabolism are now more clearly established. The intestinal absorption of cholesterol is decreased by soybean phosphatidylcholine-enriched diet and results in a cholesterol-lowering effect. There is an enhancement of the cholesterol efflux by endothelial cells incubated with soybean phosphatidylcholines, and a stimulation of the reverse cholesterol transport by high density lipoprotein-phosphatidylcholines. As a result of all these processes, phosphatidylcholines provided by the soybean lecithin metabolism appear to be key molecules controlling the biodynamic exchanges of lipids. They regulate homeostasis of cholesterol and fatty acids by decreasing their synthesis and promoting cholesterol oxidation into bile salts. Finally, the outcome is the increase in bile secretion of these lipids and/or their metabolite forms. Such findings constitute promising goals in the field of nutritional effects of soybean lecithin in the treatment or prevention of hyperlipidemia and related atherosclerosis.
PMID: 11091102 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Lecithin and choline in human health and disease.7
Canty DJ, Zeisel SH.
Department of Nutrition, Food, and Hotel Management at New York University, NY.
Choline is involved in methyl group metabolism and lipid transport and is a component of a number of important biological compounds including the membrane phospholipids lecithin, sphingomyelin, and plasmalogen; the neurotransmitter acetylcholine; and platelet activating factor. Although a required nutrient for several animal species, choline is not currently designated as essential for humans. However, recent clinical studies show it to be essential for normal liver function. Additionally, a large body of evidence from the fields of molecular and cell biology shows that certain phospholipids play a critical role in generating second messengers for cell membrane signal transduction. This process involves a cascade of reactions that translate an external cell stimulus such as a hormone or growth factor into a change in cell transport, metabolism, growth, function, or gene expression. Disruptions in phospholipid metabolism can interfere with this process and may underlie certain disease states such as cancer and Alzheimer's disease. These recent findings may be appropriate in the consideration of choline as an essential nutrient for humans.
Publication Types:
PMID: 7816350 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Referencesref