Usually grouped as part of the B-vitamin complex, choline is a water-soluble nutrient required for essential functions, including nutrient transport, basic cellular structure, and metabolism. Your liver can produce small amounts of choline, but you need to include certain foods with choline in your diet to increase your intake of this organic compound. Let's find out more about the foods that contain choline.

Top 12 Choline-Rich Food

There are a number of foods high in choline, but some of them will provide you with a higher percentage of your recommended daily intake of this organic compound. Here are some of the best foods to include in your diet.

More Foods High in Choline

While the foods above are just perfect to increase the intake of choline, you can also find many other options to include in your diet. For instance:

• Dairy Products: The choline you consume is usually in the form of phosphatidylcholine, and dairy products are packed with it. You can also include cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, butter, and cottage cheese in your diet to get choline.
• Fish: Including fish in your diet will help you load up your body with choline and other important nutrients. Atlantic cod is a great source of choline and so is canned salmon.
• Meat: You can get enough choline by including meat in your diet. Beef liver is a great source of choline. You can add it to stir-fry dishes or include in your salads to increase your choline intake.
• Other Foods High in Choline: You can also meet your recommended daily intake of choline by including nuts and nut butters in your diet. Peanut butter is a rich source of choline. Nuts like walnuts, almonds, and cashews are also packed with choline. Wheat germ, milk chocolate, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, navy beans, kidney beans, avocados, molasses, and oat bran are some other nice examples of choline rich foods.

What Can Choline Do to Us?

Many health benefits are associated with choline. Here is more about exactly what role choline performs in your body.

1. Support Fetal Development

Choline is important for pregnant women because it supports fetal development. Unfortunately, many multivitamins pregnant women take do not include choline. It is important to increase your intake of choline during pregnancy because it helps develop the part of the brain that regulates memory. If you consume less than 300 mg of choline during pregnancy, this will increase the risk of neural tube birth defects.

2. Promote Liver Health

Statistics show that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects up to 25% of people in the United States, and adequate amount of choline is essential for the normal liver function. It promotes liver health and makes it easier for the liver to provide detoxification, fight infection, and process the food and drinks to provide your body with minerals and vitamins.

3. Improve Cardiovascular Health

Eating foods high in choline prevents blood plaque formation, which in turn prevents clots and lowers risk of heart attacks. At the same time, choline plays a big role in regulating the nerve impulse systems that promote a strong heart muscle and a regular heartbeat.

4. Improve Muscle Performance

Choline is necessary for optimized physical performance and benefits athletes in many ways. Not only does it improve muscle performance during exercise, it also improves stamina and supports communication with muscle fibers. It also accelerates muscle recovery after strenuous physical activities. 

Do I Have Enough Choline?

The daily Adequate Intake (AI) of choline is as per the following. If you have choline defiency, you may need to take some supplements. Consult your doctor for the details. 

Signs of Choline Deficiency

You may not notice any symptom if you have inadequate choline in your diet, but this may show up as reduced VLDL and elevated ALT levels in the blood. This will cause fat to accumulate in your liver, which will cause liver damage over time. You may also notice a decline in your cognitive abilities due to a choline deficiency. It also has a role to play in Alzheimer's disease and memory loss.