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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

04.07.2017

A couple of grams of choline improve coordination ability

Athletes who take 2 g choline 70 minutes before a competition are more likely to aim, shoot, kick or hit more accurately. Psychologists at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands suggest this in a human study that they published in Scientific Reports. Improved coordination ability is associated with a decrease in reaction time - but there may be a solution for that.

Study
In the human body, choline is a raw material for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Because the researchers believed that more acetylcholine means better coordination ability, they got a couple of dozen students to do an agility test on several occasions. The students had to click with the mouse on illuminated points on a computer screen.

On one occasion the students drank two glasses of orange juice containing 2 g choline-bitartrate 70 minutes before doing the test; on the other occasion they drank orange juice that did not contain choline.

The supplementation provided as much choline as "5 hard-boiled eggs or 250 g beef liver", the researchers reported. "The given amounts were well below the established 3.5 g recommended upper intake level for adults."

The body absorbs free choline fairly quickly. Animal studies show that the concentration of choline in the blood peaks just 30 minutes after intake; and already 40 minutes after the concentration of acetylcholine in the brain has increased significantly - and this continues for 50 minutes. [Life Sci. 1975 Apr 1;16(7):1095-102.] [Life Sci. 1975 Sep 15;17(6):975-80.]

Results
The participants clicked nearer to the illuminated points on the screen when they'd been given choline. The choline slowed down their reaction time a little, however.

Choline supplementation also reduced the number of misses. That effect was only statistically significant in the participants who scored well in the test [Acc].

Conclusion
"The outcomes of this study may be of direct help to, for example, athletes who can benefit from improvements in motor coordination despite slower reaction times," speculate the researchers.

For athletes who cannot afford to have slower reactions, a combination of choline and substances that improve reaction speed may be of interest. Caffeine, for example, [J Psychopharmacol. 2017 Feb;31(2):222-32.] maybe in combination with ornithine. Or ornithine plus BCAAs. Or - to pull out all the stops - caffeine, BCAAs and ornithine.

Source:
Sci Rep. 2015 Aug 14;5:13188.

More:
Lose fat faster with 2 g choline per day 05.05.2015

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