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Citicoline: Better Than Dietary Choline?
Plus: the best exercise for lowering blood pressure, according to science
The 10almonds Team
November 07, 2023
Today’s almonds have been activated by:
❝When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, and to love❞
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Citicoline is a very safe and useful way of getting choline, an essential nutrient used by assorted parts of the body, but most notably (and what we’ll focus on today) the brain.
Citicoline supplementation has been found to have many cognitive and neurological benefits
The conditions associated with untreated menopause can range from the inconvenient (e.g. mood swings) to the potentially life-threatening (e.g. heart palpitations)
Today’s sponsor, Wellcore, is offering an at-home test kit to help take your menopausal healthcare into your own hands, and find out what is responsible for what—and then enjoy treatment, if appropriate.
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
The Best Exercise For Lowering Blood Pressure, By Science (4:50)
A study compared 5 different types of exercise for lowering blood pressure:
Blood-pressure-lowering menu:
Prefer text? Click here to read the study paper 🤓
Want to watch it, but not right now? Bookmark it for later 🔖
💊 MAIN FEATURE
Citicoline: Better Than Dietary Choline?
Citicoline, also known as cytidine diphosphate-choline (or CDP-Choline, to its friends, or cytidine 5'-diphosphocholine if it wants to get fancy) is a dietary supplement that the stomach can metabolize easily for all the brain’s choline needs. What are those needs?
Choline is an essential nutrient. We technically can synthesize it, but only in minute amounts, far less than we need. Choline is a key part of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, as well as having other functions in other parts of the body.
As for citicoline specifically… it appears to do the job better than dietary sources of choline:
❝Intriguing data, showing that on a molar mass basis citicoline is significantly less toxic than choline, are also analyzed.
It is hypothesized that, compared to choline moiety in other dietary sources such as phosphatidylcholine, choline in citicoline is less prone to conversion to trimethylamine (TMA) and its putative atherogenic N-oxide (TMAO).
Epidemiological studies have suggested that choline supplementation may improve cognitive performance, and for this application citicoline may be safer and more efficacious.❞
Great! What does it do?
What doesn’t it do? When it comes to cognitive function, anyway, citicoline covers a lot of bases.
Short version: it improves just about every way a brain’s healthy functions can be clinically measured. From cognitive improvements in all manner of tests (far beyond just “improves memory” etc; also focus, alertness, verbal fluency, logic, computation, and more), to purely neurological things like curing tinnitus (!), alleviating mobility disorders, and undoing alcohol-related damage.
One of the reasons it’s so wide in its applications, is that it has a knock-on effect to other systems in the brain, including the dopaminergic system.
(if you don’t want to sit down for a long read, we recommend skimming to the charts and figures, which are very elucidating even alone)
Spotlight study in memory
For a quick-reading example of how it helps memory specifically:
Keeping dementia at bay
For many older people looking to improve memory, it’s less a matter of wanting to perform impressive feats of memory, and more a matter of wanting to keep a sharp memory throughout our later years.
Dr. Maria Bonvicini et al. looked into this:
❝We selected seven studies including patients with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease or post-stroke dementia
All the studies showed a positive effect of citicoline on cognitive functions. Six studies could be included in the meta-analysis.
Overall, citicoline improved cognitive status, with pooled standardized mean differences ranging from 0.56 (95% CI: 0.37-0.75) to 1.57 (95% CI: 0.77-2.37) in different sensitivity analyses❞
The researchers concluded “yes”, and yet, called for more studies, and of higher quality. In many such studies, the heterogeneity of the subjects (often, residents of nursing homes) can be as much a problem (unclear whether the results will be applicable to other people in different situations) as it is a strength (fewer confounding variables).
Another team looked at 47 pre-existing reviews, and concluded:
❝The review found that citicoline has been proven to be a useful compound in preventing dementia progression.
Citicoline has a wide range of effects and could be an essential substance in the treatment of many neurological diseases.
Its positive impact on learning and cognitive functions among the healthy population is also worth noting.❞
The dopamine bonus
Remember how we said that citicoline has a knock-on effect on other systems, including the dopaminergic system? This means that it’s been studied (and found meritorious) for alleviating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease:
❝Patients with Parkinson’s disease who were taking citicoline had significant improvement in rigidity, akinesia, tremor, handwriting, and speech.
Citicoline allowed effective reduction of levodopa by up to 50%.
Significant improvement in cognitive status evaluation was also noted with citicoline adjunctive therapy.❞
Where to get it?
We don’t sell it, but here’s an example product on Amazon, for your convenience 😎
Enjoy!
❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE
Wellcore | Personalized Menopausal Healthcare
People tend to know about hot flashes, but did you know there are more than 30 symptoms associated with menopause? Maybe you knew about weight gain and bone density loss, but night sweats and heart palpitations?
The conditions associated with untreated menopause can range from the inconvenient to the potentially life-threatening.
And yet, many people are left to guess at what symptoms might mean, or worse, simply ignore them.
Wellcore believes in doing better. To make diagnosis and treatment much more accessible to everyone, they offer an at-home testing kit. They’ll then analyze the results, and offer appropriate hormone therapy themselves if you want it (there are many benefits).
Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free
🌎 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
Parkinson's disease and normal aging
Wearable tech for contact tracing developed
Nerve block can reduce need for post-surgical opioids
Medical cannabis study reveals patterns of cannabis use and consumption
Our world is in chaos. Here are six ways to take care of yourself (and others)
Is it a cold, flu or hay fever? How to tell symptoms apart, and boost your immune system
With diabetes on the rise, tech becomes crucial part of disease management
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Brain Wash: Detox Your Mind for Clearer Thinking, Deeper Relationships, and Lasting Happiness – by Dr. David Perlmutter, Dr. Austin Perlmutter, and Kristen Loberg
You may be familiar with the lead author of this book, Dr. David Perlmutter, as a big name in the world of preventative healthcare. A lot of his work has focused specifically on carbohydrate metabolism, and he is as associated with grains and he is with brains. This book focuses on the latter.
Dr. Perlmutter et al. take a methodical look at all that is ailing our brains in this modern world, and systematically lay out a plan for improving each aspect.
The advice is far from just dietary, though the chapter on diet takes a clear stance:
❝The food you eat and the beverages you drink change your emotions, your thoughts, and the way you perceive the world❞
The style is explanatory, and the book can be read comfortably as a "sit down and read it cover to cover" book; it's an enjoyable, informative, and useful read.
Bottom line: if you'd like to give your brain a gentle overhaul, this is the one-stop-shop book to give you the tools to do just that.
What did you think of today's newsletter?We always love to hear from you, whether you leave us a comment or even just a click in the poll if you're speeding by! |
Wishing you the most well-informed start to the week,
The 10almonds Team