Choline Cooler

Synergistic blend of brain boosting nutrients
600 gm powder, Code 236

$31.95

The most commonly used memory-enhancing nutrients are choline, lecithin, and phosphatidylcholine, which are precursors to the chemical neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which carries messages between brain cells. Because acetylcholine helps brain cells communicate with each other, it plays an important role in learning and memory. One study found that phosphatidylcholine administered with vitamin B12 improved the memory of rats in whom brain damage had caused memory impairment. Acetylcholine deficiency can predispose a person to a wide range of neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. Children with Attention Deficit Disorder may also benefit by the addition of choline to their diet. Durk & Sandy’s Choline Cooler can be mixed with juice or water to assist children with ADD in concentration and memory enhancement.

If you want to consume your “smart nutrients” in a delicious liquid compex supplement, try Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw’s Choline Cooler, a synergistic blend of brain boosting nutrients. Published studies have shown that in the presence of pantothenic acid, dietary choline converts to acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that carries nerve impulses from one brain cell to another. Choline Cooler may boost overall cognitive function and enhance verbal behavior, attention and concentration.

Dosage and use

• Place one tablespoon of mix in four to eight ounces of cold water or fruit juice. Stir briskly and drink. Serve over ice for best flavor.
  
• Consume as desired one to three times per day.
  
• Works great with Rise & Shine, Blast or Fast Blast.

Caution
Use only as directed. Not for use by persons with Parkinson’s disease or manic-depressive psychosis, or persons taking anti-cholinergic drugs. Consumption of too much choline may increase muscle tone which may produce temporary symptoms such as stiff neck, muscle tension headaches, or gastric cramps. Persons with ulcers or a history of ulcers should consult their physicians before using a choline supplement since choline my increase stomach acid production. The high niacin content may cause temporary skin flushing, redness, a feeling of heat, and itching which usually lasts about half an hour. This niacin flush is harmless and can be minimized by regularly taking this product on a full stomach. Avoid the use of aluminum containing antacids with this product.

Exerpt from LE Magazine: Enhancing Cognitive Function
Keeping your memory in tip top shape

by Ivy Greenwell

Why we need choline

The brain has a voracious appetite for choline. There are two main reasons for the brain's huge need for this nutrient: choline is required for synthesis of the key neurotransmitter acetylcholine, and it is used for the building and maintenance of brain cell membranes. Acetylcholine is vital for thought, memory and sleep, and is also involved in the control of movements. Not surprisingly, the production of acetylcholine decreases with age, resulting in poor memory, diminished learning ability and cognitive decline in general. In Alzheimer's disease, the levels of acetylcholine are abnormally low. It is the cholinergic neurons that show the most degeneration as Alzheimer's disease progresses. When the brain does not receive sufficient choline to manufacture acetylcholine, it may resort to extracting choline out of the nerve cell membranes. This is called auto-cannibalism. While in the short run this process provides a supply of choline to produce enough acetylcholine to keep memory and other brain functions going, in the long run the nerve cells become badly damaged as neural cell membranes grow rigid and increasingly dysfunctional. Choline is also important for the building of healthy cell membranes. As phosphatidyl choline, it constitutes one third of the cell membrane phospholipids. Phosphatidyl choline also serves as the substrate, an enzyme that activates the formation of other signaling neuro-chemicals.

Choline and sleep

One of the lesser-known functions of acetylcholine is helping to maintain sleep. Acetylcholine controls the amount of sensory input. It strengthens the so-called stimulus barrier, making it possible to sleep through minor noises and other disturbances. As we age, we tend to become "light sleepers," easily roused from sleep. Menopausal women, who experience a sudden drop in acetylcholine levels due to estrogen withdrawal, often complain about having suddenly become "light sleepers." The same stimulus barrier also helps us concentrate and solve problems. Too little acetylcholine makes us distracted and irritable as too many unimportant stimuli bombard us, in essence preventing us from thinking.
Menopausal women who are not on hormone replacement also tend to complain about the dryness of their mucous membranes, which leads to problems such as nosebleeds. Again, it is acetylcholine that keeps the mucous membranes moist. The bladder too is under cholinergic control.

of cholesterol. It synergizes with inositol in its function as a lipotropic-a compound that emulsifies fat, keeping it in liquid suspension. As long as cholesterol is emulsified, it is not likely to settle on artery walls or in the gallbladder. In addition, phosphatidyl choline actually helps transport cholesterol and fats so they can be used by the body, or else excreted. If you are watching your cholesterol, you may also be engaging in a serious exercise program. But beware: strenuous exercise such as marathon running may seriously lower the levels of choline. A study of the Boston marathon runners found as much as a 40% decrease in some runners. The reason for this might be the need for choline in the metabolism of fats, which is increased during exercise.

Choline helps facilitate youthful methylation

The role of choline in methylation probably explains the finding that choline-deficient diets are associated with an increased rate of cancer in animal studies. Dr. Craig Cooney, an expert in the field of methylation, suggests that choline may in fact turn out to be important in the treatment of cancer. He points out that besides being a methyl donor, choline function as a "key component in the 'cellular switchboard' that regulates the chemical signaling system in the membranes of our cells." It is desirable to take folic acid concurrently with choline; it seems that if more folic acid is available, less choline is used up for methylation, and can thus be used by the nervous system. Thus, methylating agents have a choline-sparing action. Particularly as we grow older and our absorption and the uptake of choline by the nervous system are likely to decline, we simply can't afford to "waste" choline on methylation while our cell membranes deteriorate.

A statement in Dr. Craig Cooney's book, Methyl Magic, suggests that taking your choline supplement with coffee may increase the release of acetylcholine. "Research with rats shows that a combination of caffeine and choline releases much more acetylcholine than choline alone," Cooney states. This is probably due to the fact that caffeine competes with adenosine, an inhibitor of acetylcholine synthesis.

Fetal development

Several fascinating recent studies found that when pregnant rats were supplemented with choline (four to seven times the amount present in the standard rat chow) during the last half of pregnancy, their offspring showed lifelong improved learning capacity, attentiveness and memory. Furthermore, the rats born to choline supplemented mothers did not show the decline in memory with aging that was apparent in control rats. The extra choline during fetal development apparently produced a more efficient nervous system and ensured superior brain health for the rest of the animals' lives. Thus, there is reason to think that prenatal choline supplementation results in enhanced attention, faster and more persistent learning, and improved cognitive function in general across the life span. If these exciting findings apply to humans as well, the implications of prenatal choline supplementation for human cognitive performance and continued brain health in old age are staggering. Newborns continue to require large amounts of choline for development. Normally choline is supplied in mother's milk. However, it is worth repeating that the amount of choline in breast milk correlates with dietary consumption of choline. A nursing mother who doesn't consume choline- rich foods runs the risk of depriving her child of the higher choline levels that would ensure optimal brain development, and also of becoming choline-deficient herself.

How much do you need?
It has been suggested that especially the elderly should supplement with 1-3 g of choline a day, along with methylating agents such as vitamins B12, B6 and folic acid. Dr. Cooney suggests increasing one's choline supplementation as one gets older. While 250 mg might be sufficient for a young person (though possibly not for a pregnant or nursing woman), as we get older we should move to 500 mg, then 750 mg, until we reach 1500 to 3000 mg a day in old age.
It appears that supplementation with choline may increase acetylcholine synthesis by promoting increased neuronal activity. Otherwise, the extra choline is probably used for other purposes, mainly the crucial task of building and maintaining brain cell membranes. Choline supplementation has also been shown to increase the density of certain cholinergic receptors.
Do note: if you have never taken choline supplements before, do not start with a large dose, particularly if you are still relatively young. To do so might make you feel hyperactive or anxious. It is best to increase your intake gradually, Dr. Cooney suggests. It is also recommended that you concurrently take other methylating agents, such as folic acid. Dr. Cooney states that the fishy smell sometimes associated with ingestion of large doses of choline disappears if you take 800 mcg of folic acid with your choline.

In rat studies, tissue examination showed that the administration of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine was able to help repair damaged neurons. A large dose of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine was also found to help prevent a drug-induced drop in acetylcholine levels. Clinical trials with glyceryl-phosphorylcholine in Alzheimer's patients showed that 1200 mg/day of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine produced a greater improvement on most cognitive and behavioral measures than 1500 mg/day of acetyl-l-carnitine. Glyceryl-phosphorylcholine has also been compared with CDP-choline (cytidine diphosphocholine), and has been found to produce superior results in patients with vascular dementia. Another study found much higher plasma choline levels after injections of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine than CDP-choline. Glyceryl-phosphorylcholine appears to be the best choline donor in the brain. Studies using glyceryl-phosphorylcholine as a choline donor found typical multiple benefits. Besides the expected improvements in memory and learning in older animals, glyceryl-phosphorylcholine prevented the age-related loss of certain cholinergic receptors, as well as the age-related loss of neural tissue in the cerebellum. A combined administration of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and glyceryl-phosphorylcholine produced a greater release of growth hormone than GHRH alone. The potentiating effect of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine on growth hormone release was more pronounced in older subjects. It is interesting to note that a quart of cow milk contains about 250 mg of glyceryl-phosphorylcholine and 50 mg of phosphatidyl-ethanolamine. Since newborn mammals have a tremendous need for choline, it is not surprising that milk should contain compounds that are the most efficient choline donors. In order for oral glyceryl-phosphorylcholine to increase the levels of acetylcholine, several other co-factors are involved such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and methylation-enhancing nutrients such as folic acid, B12 and TMG.

Maintaining brain cell membrane integrity

Phosphatidylethanolamine is part of the cell membrane, together with compounds such as phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl inositol and phosphatidyl serine. The individual properties of these various phospholipids and their metabolites are now under intense investigation. We know that phosphatidyl- ethanolamine is deficient in the neurons of the victims of Alzheimer's disease. These patients are also deficient in other phospholipids. But one need not be diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder in order to become gradually deficient in phospholipids, including phosphatidyl- ethanolamine. The aging process decreases the levels of phospholipids in cell membranes throughout the body, with particularly disastrous consequences for the brain. Because of the brain's enormous need for choline, some phosphatidylethanolamine in neural membranes may be methylated as needed to provide choline.

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease