Page 173 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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Choline

Choline is directly converted into acetylcholine by combining with acetic acid, and you might think
that choline should work quite well as a memory enhancer. Unfortunately, although animal studies
show that choline heightens attention and helps to transfer information from short to long-term
memory, the clinical data are inconsistent and unimpressive. Several placebo-controlled trials to treat
Alzheimer's disease have met with failure. Similar efforts with choline have not worked in people
with mild to moderate memory loss. To produce even the slightest effect, choline needs to be
ingested in huge quantities of 3 to 12 grams daily. Another practical problem is that if you take this
substance, you may exude a fishy smell, not a very appetizing prospect for bystanders, let alone your
loved ones.

Lecithin

Lecithin is an essential ingredient of living cells.
It prevents cholesterol accumulation in arteries, and helps prevent liver degeneration.
Phosphatidylcholine is the active element in lecithin that works against memory loss.
Phosphatidylcholine is broken down to choline, which the body then uses to synthesize
acetylcholine.
Lecithin has a prolonged duration of action and needs to be taken only once or twice a day.

Like choline, in more than a dozen controlled studies of Alzheimer's patients, lecithin's effects
have been very small and quite inconsistent. Similar results have emerged from the few placebo-
controlled studies of lecithin to treat mild to moderate memory loss; there have been no studies to
prevent age-related memory loss.

Your average daily diet contains approximately I gram of lecithin, but this is too little to have any
promemory effects. You need to take a large amount— 2 to 10 grams a day— to produce a very small,
and debatable, improvement in memory. Lecithin can be purchased in health food stores. The
amount of the vital component, phosphatidylcholine, varies from 25 to 55 percent in content in these
products. The higher the proportion of phosphatidylcholine, the more likely lecithin may have a mild
cognitive-enhancing effect.