choline

What Does Choline Do?

Choline is an essential nutrient and a primary precursor to acetylcholine, often referred to as the "learning neurotransmitter" because of its role in muscle control and cognitive processing. In a pre-workout context, it acts as a bridge between your brain and your muscles, ensuring that your nervous system can keep up with physical demands.

• Enhanced Mind-Muscle Connection: By increasing acetylcholine availability, choline helps you better "feel" the target muscle during lifts, leading to more intentional contractions and better fiber recruitment.
• Cognitive Clarity: It helps eliminate brain fog during high-intensity training, keeping you sharp and focused on your technique even as physical fatigue sets in.
• Fat Metabolism Support: Choline is vital for lipid transport, assisting your body in moving fats out of the liver to be utilized for energy.
• Neuroprotection: Regular intake supports the structural integrity of cell membranes and long-term brain health, protecting neurons from oxidative stress during exercise.

Clinical vs. Gym Bro Dosing

Key Insight: While 500mg is the recommended baseline for focus, the specific form of choline matters significantly. Choline Bitartrate is the most common form found in the 8 products on LabelRater, but because it is less bioavailable than Alpha-GPC or CDP-Choline, you may need to aim for the higher end of the performance tier to achieve a similar "locked-in" feeling.

Side Effects & Warnings

• Digestive Distress: High doses, particularly on an empty stomach, can lead to nausea, diarrhea, or mild stomach cramping.
• Fishy Body Odor: A unique side effect of excessive choline intake is a "fishy" smell in sweat or breath, caused by the bacterial breakdown of choline into trimethylamine.
• Headaches: Some users report mild tension headaches when first introducing supplemental choline or when taking doses exceeding 2,000mg.

Tip: To avoid the dreaded fishy odor and digestive issues, start with the clinical 500mg dose and ensure you are consuming it with plenty of water. If you are already eating a diet high in eggs or beef liver, you may already be hitting your daily requirements.