Perinatal Choline May Reduce Risk of Schizophrenia

Supplementation with choline—a naturally occurring essential nutrient—during pregnancy and after may help attenuate one of the key brain changes characteristic of schizophrenia, according to a new study from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

About one in every 100 people older than 18 years will develop schizophrenia during their lives. Men and women are equally susceptible, and an estimated 2.4 million people in the US alone are affected by the disorder.

The University of Colorado study suggests that perinatal supplementation with choline could significantly reduce these numbers in Randy_Rossfuture generations. This is because choline plays a crucial role in the development of a neuroreceptor that controls certain brain circuits associated with the development of schizophrenia.

“The more choline you have before you’re born, the better that receptor will be stimulated and the better the circuit will form,” said Dr. Randal Ross, the study’s lead author.

High Fetal Demand

Choline is a naturally occurring compound found in all animal cell membranes, as well as in soy beans and eggs.

Women are generally advised to intake about 425 mg of choline each day, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Information Center. Pregnant women should get 450 milligrams each day, but the reality is that many are commonly deficient.

“It turns out that choline is actively used by a fetus for lots of reasons,” Dr. Ross said. “Oftentimes, it isn’t enough, so that as much as a quarter of all pregnant women are choline-deficient at one time or another during their pregnancy.”

Choline is primarily converted into phosphatidylcholine, a phospholipid that plays a role in stabilizing cell membranes. Choline also makes up a nutritional component that can donate methyl groups to DNA strands during cell development. For fetuses, which are constantly growing, choline is essential. It also stimulates the growth of certain neuroreceptors—particularly the the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor–and the brain circuits associated with them. It is this function of choline that particularly interests Dr. Ross.

“These circuits play a role in a lot of psychiatric illnesses,” he said.

High-Alert Mode

One of schizophrenia’s hallmarks is a limited ability to filter incoming information. Dr. Ross puts it this way: Picture yourself walking to your friend’s house in the middle of the day and passing through a grove of trees. You hear all the sounds around you, but you filter most of them out.

“You’ll be able to easily differentiate between the chirping bird and the blowing wind, but it’s not very sensitive,” he told Holistic Primary Care.

You arrive at your friend’s house and the two of you watch a scary movie together. By the time the movie is over, it’s dark out, and you have to walk home through that same orchard. This time, you are exponentially more aware of even the faintest sounds around you.

“More of the brain is turned on, so you’re much more sensitive to sounds in the environment, but you have a much harder time telling them apart,” Dr. Ross said. “The whispering wind and a psycho killer following you sound exactly the same.”

People with schizophrenia are in that high-alert mode much more frequently than non-schizophrenic people.

“Their circuits don’t work as well,” Dr. Ross said. “When they hear stimulation, more of their brain gets activated, and it’s less specific.”

About 12 years ago, members of the University of Colorado’s Schizophrenia Research Group, led by Dr. Robert Freedman, showed that the brain circuits which allow people to filter out those extra stimuli are physiologically linked to the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (aka Alpha 7).

If Alpha 7 receptors are properly developed in an infant before its birth, and if they continue to be stimulated later in life, they’ll control the circuits that monitor the ability to filter out non-essential stimuli.

 
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