[PHNUTR-L] Typical Diet Deficient in Nutrient Linked to Infant Brain Development, Memory

[jve8686 at ksu.edu]

Hi! I am a student, and currently taking nutrient metabolism.  Choline
is made in the body from methylation of serine.  As you all know,
serine is an amino acid.  So, I guess if someone were short on serine,
then ok, the body would not be able to metabolize choline well.  But is
it not true that pregnant women need more PRO than others? So maybe it
is just a matter of precaution? It also says in my text that AI should
be obtained through dietary consumption of animal products and foods
containing fats.  --this may not be much help to your question
Lorraine, but I thought I would just share with you what a current
student has in her texts.

Jackie


Quoting lemat7914 at aol.com:


> Okay folks, help me out.  I thought I remembered from biochemistry

> that our bodies make choline without too much trouble.  Is this not

> true, or do pregnant women not make enough?

>

> Lorraine Matthews, MS, RD, LDN

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com

> To: NCCMailList at yahoogroups.com

> Cc: phnutr-l at u.washington.edu; fnspec at lists.purdue.edu

> Sent: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 10:12 AM

> Subject: [PHNUTR-L] Typical Diet Deficient in Nutrient Linked to

> Infant Brain Development, Memory

>

>

> Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my

> own

> opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish

> to

> receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages

> coming from @nutritionucanlivewith.com and the program will remove

> anything coming from me.

> ---------------------------------------------------------

> Source: Solae Company Released: Tue 05-Sep-2006, 19:00 ET

> Embargo expired: Thu 07-Sep-2006, 00:05 ET

> http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/523253/?sc=dwhp

>

> Typical Diet Deficient in Nutrient Linked to Infant Brain

> Development, Memory

>

> Description

> A new study by researchers from three of America's top universities

> suggests U.S. women aren't getting adequate amounts of a nutrient

> thought to promote normal fetal brain development. A related poll

> finds Americans are largely uninformed and confused about the

> nutrient choline.

>

> Newswise — A new study by researchers from three of America’s top

> universities suggests U.S. women aren’t getting adequate amounts of

> a nutrient thought to promote normal fetal brain development.

>

> Sponsored by the National Institute of Health, researchers found the

> average American consumes just 314 milligrams of choline each day –

> much less than the 425 milligrams (women) and 550 milligrams (men)

> recommended by government health officials.

>

> Choline is a nutrient essential for human brain development, normal

> memory function and fertility, and is thought to be particularly

> important during pregnancy. Foods rich in choline include soy

> lecithin, beef liver and egg yolks, although soy lecithin delivers

> one of the most bioactive and natural sources of the nutrient without

> cholesterol or saturated fat.

>

> Accurately estimating per capita choline intake has been difficult

> because a food composition database was only recently made available

> to the research community. In this analysis, researchers studied the

> diets of some 2,000 subjects by comparing data from a food frequency

> questionnaire against a new U.S. Department of Agriculture choline

> database.

>

> “Our research suggests the typical American diet is lower in

> choline than recommended,” said Steven H. Zeisel, M.D., one of the

> study’s researchers. “When corrected for energy intake, daily

> choline levels were significantly below the recommended daily intake

> for both men and women. Although we cannot be sure from this study,

> Americans may not understand the importance of choline in their

> diets, or may not know which foods are rich in the nutrient.”

>

> – New Poll Finds a Public Confused about Choline –

>

> Most Americans can’t say how much choline they consume each day and

> don’t understand its role in the human diet, according to an August

> poll of U.S. adults.

>

> Nearly three-quarters of respondents don’t understand or don’t

> know if they understand what function choline plays in a person’s

> diet, and only 14 percent said they knew how much of the nutrient

> they consume in a day. Respondents over the age of 65 and between the

> ages of 25 and 34 were least able to estimate their daily intake.

>

> Nutritionist Greg Paul, Ph.D., thinks choline consumption would

> improve if more food manufacturers used a recent Food and Drug

> Administration ruling to advertise “Good” or “Excellent”

> sources of choline on package labels.

>

> “The small amount of choline found in most of today’s processed

> foods makes it difficult for the average consumer to meet the

> nutrient’s recommended daily intake,” Paul said. “In 2001, the

> FDA ruled that food manufacturers could make certain claims about

> choline on product packages. Increasing the amount of choline in

> processed foods and better promoting those products that are good or

> excellent sources of choline are positive steps to help address this

> public health issue.”

>

> Paul said one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to boost choline

> levels in processed foods is to add extra amounts of soybean

> lecithin, a naturally occurring emulsifier long used as a functional

> food ingredient.

>

> The study, “Choline Awareness in America,” was conducted by

> Opinion Research Corporation’s CARAVAN® among a nationally

> representative sample of 1,020 adults 18 years of age and older

> between August 24 and 27, 2006. Findings have a margin of error of

> plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence

> level.

>

> About The Solae Company

>

> The Solae Company is a food innovation and ingredient manufacturing

> organization. Formed through an alliance between DuPont (NYSE: DD)

> and Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), the St. Louis, Missouri-based company

> provides food manufacturers across the world with Better Ingredients

> for Better Living.â„¢ For more information, visit

> http://www.solae.com.

>

> Sold under the SOLEC™ brand name, The Solae Company’s lecithin

> products are considered some of nature’s best emulsifiers,

> promoting formation of stable oil-in-water and water-in-oil

> emulsions. The ingredients also help prevent dusting and sticking,

> improve food ingredient mixing efficiency and increase the lubricity

> of extruded materials.

>

> Editor’s Notes:

>

> Although the word lecithin is derived from the Greek lekithos,

> meaning “yolk of an egg,” the primary commercial source of

> lecithin is the soybean.

>

> Emerging research in animals suggests adequate amounts of prenatal

> choline can have long-lasting effects on cognitive function. Adult

> rats receiving generous amounts of choline during gestation, for

> example, were significantly superior at performing tasks that assess

> attention and spatial and temporal memory. Researchers have also

> uncovered a link between choline and the prevention of heart and

> liver diseases.

>

> Dr. Greg Paul is a nutritionist and global director of nutrition

> strategy at The Solae Company. Dr. Steven H. Zeisel is professor and

> chair of the Department of Nutrition and professor of pediatrics at

> the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also

> editor-in-chief of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

>

> For more information on the choline consumption study, see: Cho E,

> Zeisel SH, Jacques P, Selhub J, Dougherty L, Colditz GA, Willett WC.

> Dietary choline and betaine assessed by food-frequency questionnaire

> in relation to plasma total homocysteine concentration in the

> Framingham Offspring Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2006;83:905-11.

> -- Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >

> "Ask the Parkinson Dietitian" http://www.parkinson.org/

> "Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease"

> "Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy"

> http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> PHNUTR-L mailing list

> PHNUTR-L at u.washington.edu

> http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/phnutr-l

>

________________________________________________________________________

> Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email

> and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

>