Boosting memory with lecithin

Heather Little-White, PhD, Contributor

It does not take old age for you to forget some basic things like people's names, finding your vehicle in the car park, or where you placed your keys; and it may be even as bad as missing your road home.

There is no reason for despair if your memory is fading, as taking lecithin significantly improves memory.

In a study to test the claim of lecithin on the memory, researchers found that when 41 healthy people between ages 50-80 were given two tablespoons of lecithin a day for three weeks, there was significant improvement in the ability of the participants to recall names and retrieve misplaced items. The greatest gains were among the younger members of the group, ages 35-50.

Choline

The secret ingredient in lecithin's remarkable ability in improving memory, is phosphotidylcholine commonly called choline. This is the building block of another chemical in the brain called acetylcholine, responsible for transmitting messages among nerve cells. The body also makes choline from the amino acid methionine, and is now consi-dered an essential nutrient.

Sources

The foods you consume also provide some. Oatmeal with soy milk for breakfast, as well as the yolk in your 'sunny side' eggs accompanied by steamed callaloo, will supply you with choline. Organ meats and legumes are also good sources of choline. Unrefined soybeans are very rich in lecithin and, when the bean is processed, lecithin is extracted as 'impurity' and sold commercially for use in baked products, prepared foods and pharmaceutical products.

If these foods as well as your peanuts for snacks are not giving you the amounts you need, then you should discuss with your doctor the amount you should be taking from lecithin. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, while not substantiating the claim that lecithin will aid memory, suggests that 13.5 grams, or two tablespoons of lecithin per day, is safe.

Supplement

Lecithin supplement comes in a liquid, granule or capsule form without a prescription from pharmacies and natural food stores. However, it is recommended by experts in alternative nutrition that pure choline supplements should not be taken, as the pure form breaks down in the intestine to produce a fishy-smelling chemical that works it way up the digestive system to badly affect your morning breath.

Lecithin as an emulsifying agent is used in chocolate bars to keep fat from separating. Choline works with other B vitamins to metabolise fats. If choline is not available, fat becomes trapped in the liver blocking metabolism. Specifically, choline is responsible for exporting fat from the liver. It is believed that the fat-gluing ability of lecithin will help lower cholesterol and blood pressure in persons taking lecithin. The basis is that once the cholesterol is gathered up, lecithin can flush it before it sticks to the walls of the arteries.

Other health benefits of lecithin which are being investigated include the treatment of the gall bladder function, Alzheimer's, Parkinson and Huntington diseases.