AKA: Choline, Phospholipids, Phosphatidyl Serine
The Mythology: Make you pump long-time!
The Truth: Use lecithin instead of expensive branded choline salts. Yes improves endurance, well being and a host of other things.
Research: There is evidence that Choline in the form of lecithin could be useful for endurance activities and long training sessions if ingested. The market appears to be flooded with a number of Choline salts, some more exotic sounding than others. However its critical to remember that plain old lecithin touted by Schwarzenegger back in the olden days of steroid enhanced bodybuilding, fares better in studies than its new fangled cousins. Studies show lecithin is 12 times more effective than inorganic choline salts at raising human blood choline levels after 24 hours. 1 The oral ingestion of inorganic choline salts (e.g. choline chloride, choline citrate, choline bitartrate) leads to losses of approximately 60% of the available choline, through conversion to trimethylamine by intestinal bacteria. Also, athletes taking doses in the range of 1.0 – 8.0 g in the form of Choline Citrate do not seem to benefit from Choline ingestion. It appears that the studies in which phospholipids have been found to have no effect on sports performance were the studies in which choline salts rather than lecithin was used. Furthermore lecithin contains both the phospholipids implicated as having ergogenic potential – Phosphatidylcholine and Phosphatidylserine. Bodybuilders would do well to use inexpensive Lecithin rather than other expensive choline salts.
