How Much Choline Should I Eat? The Genetic Calculator
How Much Choline Should I Eat? The Genetic Calculator
The Masterjohn Genetic Choline Calculator is a free tool you can use to turn your raw data file from Ancestry or 23andMe into a precise recommendation of how much choline you should aim to get from food! Click here to start using it:
The Masterjohn Genetic Choline Calculator
This tool is more actionable and simpler to interpret than many other third party genetic reports that cost $10-$45, but is completely free. In fact, I don't even ask you for your email address to give you the report! (Though I do suggest you sign up for my Occasional Newsletter, which is where I'll notify you whenever I release something big like this.)
The default display for the results is “Just Gimme What Works.” This tells you how much choline you should aim for, how much betaine you should replace it with, and gives you examples of how to get these nutrients from foods.
If you're as geeky as I am, you can switch to the “Advanced Stuff” tab at the top of the calculator's results and get the specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were taken into account, the math used for the calculation, and the supporting references.
Click here to start using the calculator, or keep reading to learn more about it.
The Idea Behind the Genetic Choline Calculator
The idea behind the calculator is that more choline gets used up for methylation (click here to learn more about that process) when you are less effective at using folate to support that process.
The SNPs Used by the Genetic Choline Calculator
The calculator uses SNPs in the folate transporter (SLC19a1, rs1051266, G80A), the enzyme that helps make the precursor to methylfolate (MTHFD1, rs2236225, G1958A), and the enzyme that helps make methylfolate itself (MTHFR, rs1801131, A1298C and rs1801133, C677T) to develop a “methylfolate score.” This is used to calculate how much choline you should aim for.
It then uses a polymorphism in the enzyme that helps make phosphatidylcholine, a specific form of choline that protects against fatty liver disease, promotes gall bladder health, and facilitates healthy digestion of dietary fats and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (PEMT, rs7946, 5465G>A). This is used to tell you the likelihood that missing your choline requirement will hurt these functions in your body.
Calculate Your Choline Requirement Now!
Alright, here's the link to the calculator again:
The Masterjohn Genetic Choline Calculator
When You're Done…
When you're done calculating your choline requirement, check out these links:
The Choline Database allows you to search and sort the choline contents of foods to help you meet your requirement.
My Vitamins and Minerals 101 course teaches you about choline in the context of all the other vitamins and minerals. It is free, designed for beginners, yet highly valued by nutrition professionals and experts. To see what other people are saying about it, check out the >1400 comments on the Facebook post.
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Hey Chris,
Quick question. How come when calculating food sources of choline, when looking at eggs for instance, majority of that is Phosphatidylcholine, but you then aren’t only taking 15% of that?
Compared with supplements like Phosphatidylcholine capsules you say to take only 15% as the amount of choline listed. Any reason why how a supplement listing 136mg of Phosphatidylcholine is not the same as the egg yolk equivalent that has 136mg where 93% of that is Phosphatidylcholine? Just confused why for the food sources 100% of Phosphatidylcholine goes towards the daily requirement, but with the PC supplement you say to calculate only 15%.
It just looks like according to your calculator, 136mg of PC capsules should be roughly equivalent to one egg yolk Since 93% of an egg yolk is listed as PC.
Thanks so much!
Hey @ChrisMasterjohn would it be possible to send me the SNPs to watch for the genetic choline calculator in a PM. Alternatively, if you list them, I can send my alleles to you, you could calculate for me.
The reason is that I used Nebula, and the input files are not compatible.