Recent findings from a Harvard study found that choline, a nutrient found in meat, milk and eggs can reduce levels of homocysteine, an amino acid linked to increased risk of heart disease.
This is one of the first studies of its kind, since food composition databases with the choline content of foods was not available until fairly recently.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition analyzed the diet of nearly 2000 participants using a food frequency questionnaire. Researchers found the highest choline intake (401 mg per day) was associated with a nine percent lower plasma concentration of homocysteine, compared with the lowest intake of 234 mg per day.
Recommended daily intakes of choline, a member of the B vitamin family, are currently 550 mg per day for men and 425 mg per day for women. The mean intake of the entire study population was found to be 313 mg per day, indicating the study population was not consuming adequate amounts of the micronutrient. Food sources of choline include egg yolks, liver, soybeans, wheat germ, peanuts and green peas.
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