ergo-log.com

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

02.06.2024

This happens to your memory function when you use citicoline supplements

In forgetful people over 50, a daily dose of 500 milligrams of citicoline improves memory. Citicoline supplementation improves the ability to remember personal events in particular.

Study
In 2021, researchers from the Japanese manufacturer Kyowa Hakko published a trial in the Journal of Nutrition in which a hundred somewhat forgetful but healthy people over the age of fifty participated as test subjects. The researchers divided the test subjects into 2 groups of equal size.

The subjects in one group took a placebo every day for 12 weeks. The researchers gave the other group 500 milligrams of citicoline daily. The researchers used a product from the Kyowa Hakko factories.

Citicoline is a form of choline. Cholines are building blocks of the membranes of brain cells. Some researchers think that supplementation with cholines improves the structure and therefore the functioning of brain cells.

Results
The researchers studied a few aspects of memory. The subjects in the citicoline group improved slightly in all aspects. The overall effect of this improvement in the citicoline group was statistically significant. You can see it below.

If you had to rate your overall memory performance on a scale of 0 to 10, citicoline turned a 7.5 into a 7.9. This gives you an impression of the magnitude of the effect.

The researchers also found a positive, statistically significant effect of supplementation on a specific aspect of memory functioning. Citicoline improved episodic memory. The brain stores personal events in episodic memory.

Adverse effects
In the citicoline group, a small number of subjects reported mild possible side effects of citicoline, such as an increase in appetite, weight gain, flatulence, headache and belching. All these side effects were transient in nature.

The researchers wonder whether the reported symptoms were actually the result of the supplement. They could not find them in the literature.

Source:
J Nutr. 2021 Aug 7;151(8):2153-60.

More:
Citicoline improves concentration 14.08.2015
Citicoline speeds up damaged nerve recovery 17.05.2014

Archives:
Choline & Choline Analogues
Brain Boosters

Curcumin improves memory If people aged over 50 take a supplement with a highly absorbable form of curcumin every day, their memory improves.	Better memory through creatine supplements Meta-study.	Spermidine improves memory in over-60s | Pilot study This pilot study was published in 2018.