B Vitamins Choline and Folate Scrutinized
ARS News Service, USDA, March 30, 2001

Our bodies can't make enough of the B vitamin choline if we are low in it and a second B vitamin, folate, according to a study from Agricultural Research Service and university researchers led by ARS chemist Robert A. Jacob.

These findings agree with some of the results of animal studies conducted earlier by ARS scientists at Tufts University in Boston and by nutrition researchers elsewhere. These investigations helped pave the way to the current recommended choline intake of 425 mg/day for women and 550 mg/day for men.

Meats, dairy products and soy foods are rich in choline. The highest levels of folate are found in orange juice, green leafy vegetables like spinach, and bread flour or other grain products fortified with this vitamin. Nuts and liver contain both nutrients.

Choline helps us absorb and use fats and is required for making acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter needed for muscle control, memory storage, and other functions. Both nutrients contain what's known as a methyl group, which the body uses to form genetic material (DNA).

Jacob's tests with male and female volunteers included low-folate, low-choline regimens that provided as little as 13% of today's recommended daily allowance of folate. No severe choline or folate deficiencies occurred during the study, but blood levels of choline decreased an average of 25–28% in men and women during the low-folate, low-choline regimes. Levels returned to at least normal when researchers provided more folate.

More information is given in the ARS monthly journal, Agricultural Research, available online at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/mar01/folate0301.htm.

ARS News Service contact: Marcia Wood, phone 510/559-6070, e-mail MarciaWood@ars.usda.gov

Scientific contact: Through June 6, 2001, Robert A. Jacob, ARS Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center, Grand Forks, ND; 701/795-8456, fax 701/795-8230, e-mail rjacob@gfhnrc.ars.usda.gov. After June 6, ARS, Western Human Nutrition Research Center, Davis, CA; 530/752-4726, fax 530/752-8502, e-mail rjacob@whnrc.usda.gov