 |
| Can you hit the fat hard with choline? |
Before we can get to said "cautious interpretation", let's briefly take a look at what exactly Gehan Elsawy, Osama Abdelrahman, and Amr Hamza from the Zagazig University and the Mansoura University in Egypt did to produce a 100% increase in body fat loss in their 22 female study participants (15 taekwondo and 7 judo athletes).
You can learn more about choline at the SuppVersity
Huge GH Spikes from GPC!?
Choline & Classic Bodybuilding
Effects of Choline Deficiency
Caffeine, Choline, L-Car = Fat Loss
Choline Maximizes Carnitine Storage
Choline as a Nootropic?
The athletes were divided into two groups, according to their body mass; the experimental group contained ten female athletes, and the control group twelve female athletes. At the time of enrollment, all the subjects were healthy, according to a medical information questionnaire, and none of the subjects had any specific dietary restrictions. Exclusion criteria included the use of any medication or supplement during the previous six months.
2.0g per day divided in two 1.0g doses of choline did the trick
For one week prior to a competition, the athletes in the experimental group took choline tablets (1.0 g) twice daily with a meal, equaling a total daily dose of 2.0 g (the scientists don't provide any information on the form of choline, they used, but their references suggest that it was PS, i.e. phosphatidylcholine). The control group received a placebo, and they participated in usual training (with 75% training intensity) at the same time as the choline group four times per week.
"According to Anni et al. (2011), choline supplementation appears to be safe and the authors recommend taking approximately 2.5 g one hour before a prolonged exercise session. The effective dose in sport studies is 0.2 g phosphatidylcholine 90% per kg of the body mass, which equals 2.1 g of choline for an 80-kg athlete. There is no requirement for a loading or maintenance phase and choline supplementation up to one hour before exercise has been shown to be effective in reducing fatigue." (Elsawy. 2014)There was no standardized diet, there were no diet logs and there was no recording of training intensity and volume.
Body impedance a major source of error: The body fat analyses were conducted with Tanita Bioimpedance BC-418 devices. A technique that has only recently been shown to be highly sensitive to changes in body water (Slater. 2014) - changes as they occur regularly in female subjects and changes which could be influenced by the consumption of choline. I mean, generations of bodybuilders have popped choline tablets in an effort to reduce the subcutaneous water and get that cut dry look, judges want to see on stage (learn more).
Things that were assessed are body weight, body fat (see red box above), serum and urinary choline, as well as back and leg strength. |
| Figure 1: Changes in leptin, plasma choline, body fat (%), BMI, leg & back strength within the last week of precompetition dieting with or without the addition of 2g of choline (undisclosed form) in a recent study by Elsawy et al. (2014). |
 |
| Choline could also boost fat loss by boosting carnitine levels | more |
- Elsawy et al. "Effect of Choline Supplementation on Rapid Weight Loss and Biochemical Variables Among Female Taekwondo and Judo Athletes." Journal of Human Kinetics volume 40/2014, 77-82.
- Hanin I, Ansell GB. "Lecithin: Technological, Biological, and Therapeutic Aspects". Plenum Press, NY, 180-181; 1987.
- Slater, Gary. "Assessing Body Composition of Athletes." Sports Nutrition for Paralympic Athletes (2014): 189.
- Wurtman RJ, Hirsch MJ, Growdon JH. "Lecithin consumption raises serum-free-choline levels." Lancet, 1977; 2: 68-69