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
I don’t know, but I’m not going to look into it because sequencing’s rationales seem opaque and often nonsensical to me. However, it is worth noting that the calculator is not assessing the “risk” of anything and sequencing is not trying to assess your choline requirement.
I'm very excited to use the calculator, however, I have a whole-genome .vcf file that might not be the right format, but also is much larger than 25 MB (~1.5 GB). *Probably* it's unsustainable for you to maintain a site where you process such large files for free. Would you consider creating a calculator form where we can enter the alleles for the SNPs and it spits out a recommendation? That seems like it'd be the easiest way to support whole-genome files.
I have another question. While discussing this on a MTHFR support group, someone posted the attached article on having too much acetyl choline, and how to bring it down. In reading this paper I can see all sorts of issues with it that would allow me to ignore it, but as I am considering getting my choline intake up to "8 eggs" a day, which is going to take significant supplementation in addition to the 3 eggs a day I eat and the 16 lecithin capsules a day I currently take, I would like to know that what I am doing is safe. (I know already that lecithin is essential for me and that eggs are medicine - at my currently levels - they are too obviously supportive of me to dispute.)
I certainly do want to look for a better article, so maybe you can help me there, as I am sure you know them all. As the warning I was given was the problem of excess choline, and as I am attempting to get my choline levels up, there is every chance that I will slip into excess, what are the issues with excess choline? Can you point me to some definitive research on this. This is not a trivial matter to me. I am attempting to save my own life, so I am deadly serious about it, and do not have the time to mess around down blind alleys. Which is why I asked for your help.
Chris Masterjohn, have you developed a line of research on co-factors that are necessary for effective choline metabolism? Over my 35+ years of using phosphatidylcholine in the form of lecithin capsules, to control Fibromyalgia, I have found that it does not work alone. If I take it alone, I experience no detectable benefits, but if I take it with fish oil I get to see benefits. Neither has any noticeable benefits without the other. In addition, on bad days when the lecithin and fish oil do not make me sufficiently functional, I take them with full fat unhomogenized milk, which increases their efficacy marginally, but enough to get me over the line. The three seem to work well together, although they never remove all FMS symptoms, and the impact only lasts a few hours. I have to dose 4 times a day and on bad days, also overnight.
I have interrogated ChatGPT on this and get lots of vague reasons why they MIGHT work synergistically together, but nothing definitive. Any ideas? If my genes doom me to a life of supplementing with choline, I am hoping to at least find the most efficient way of doing that. Fish oil seems to improve metabolism, milk seems to improve metabolism (as detected by FMS symptoms). What else?
How on earth does anyone eat the equivalent of 8 eggs per day? I already knew I struggle with choline and have used lecithin for over 30 years to manage the pain and stiffness of FMS, but the amount I need has increased over time and its effectiveness has reduced so there is more going on than just the choline content of phosphatidylcholine.
I have two eggs daily. I eat them as medicine and they control my blood sugar for the day. I also supplement with 16 lecithin capsules daily, but have to have them with an equivalent amount of fish oil and some saturated fat for them to be effective.
An “egg yolk equivalent” is 136 mg of choline.
So calculating from the 16 lecithin capsules I take daily, from ChatGPT.
"The amount of phosphatidylcholine and choline in 1.2 grams (1,200 mg) of lecithin depends on its source and composition, but typical soybean lecithin provides the following approximate ranges:
Phosphatidylcholine (PC):
Lecithin is generally about 20–30% phosphatidylcholine by weight.
In 1.2 grams of lecithin, this corresponds to 240–360 mg of phosphatidylcholine.
Choline Content:
Phosphatidylcholine contains about 13% choline by weight.
From 240–360 mg of phosphatidylcholine, this provides approximately 31–47 mg of choline."
So a lecithin capsule has approx 31-47 mg of choline per capsule I take 16 capsules of lecithin (1.2 g each) daily which provides approximately 499–749 mg of choline per day which is the same choline as approximately 3.7 to 5.5 large eggs.
So I am still not up to 8, but almost. I guess the remainder will be supplied by other foods, but I am surprised to find that my huge dose of lecithin is not overdosing choline.
Are there more effective ways of supplementing choline over and above dietary sources?
I have just been listening to Professor Anita Baxas on Plaquex. Any ideas on it's effectiveness compared to lecithin capsules?
This is an interesting calculator but I am dismayed to see eggs and other animal sources as the top suggested sources of choline. Plant sources are much healthier due to the absence of saturated fat. PCRM has a great article: https://www.pcrm.org/news/blog/clearing-choline-confusion.
I uploaded my Ultimate Compatibility File from Sequencing.com WGS to the choline calculator. I see in your calculator, for the rs1051266 variant in SLC19A1, you list the Variant allele as T. However, Sequencing.com's Genome Explorer shows that the risk allele for rs1051266 is C.
Why is there a difference between the calculator and Genome Explorer risk allele?
Hi Chris, here Ben Lynch says it doesn’t matter how much choline you eat unless you fix the enzyme behind the process https://youtube.com/shorts/1oGbl6OHty4?si=sTTWrDCs1RXQov8H what do you think? It seems contradictory to what you say
Hi! I downloaded my raw data from TellmeGen and it didn't work. I tried unzipping the file, which gave me a csv file. Didn't work. Tried converting it to a text file, that didn't work either. Any help?
I don’t know, but I’m not going to look into it because sequencing’s rationales seem opaque and often nonsensical to me. However, it is worth noting that the calculator is not assessing the “risk” of anything and sequencing is not trying to assess your choline requirement.
Hi Chris,
I'm very excited to use the calculator, however, I have a whole-genome .vcf file that might not be the right format, but also is much larger than 25 MB (~1.5 GB). *Probably* it's unsustainable for you to maintain a site where you process such large files for free. Would you consider creating a calculator form where we can enter the alleles for the SNPs and it spits out a recommendation? That seems like it'd be the easiest way to support whole-genome files.
All the best,
Braden
I see the utility, but don't think I'll be doing that any time soon. Thanks for the recommendation though!
Chris this is a great idea and should be easy to implement
Hello,
I'm wondering if I can use a choline supplement to help reach the amount I need, and which form of choline would be best?
Me too
I am using vast quantities of lecithin currently.
i converted the MyHeritage .csv file to tab-delimited .txt, but no luck so far.
"Error: The uploaded file is damaged or is not in a format that we recognize."
any idea how to fix this?
Hey Chris,
Is it compatible to use with Myheritage?
I have another question. While discussing this on a MTHFR support group, someone posted the attached article on having too much acetyl choline, and how to bring it down. In reading this paper I can see all sorts of issues with it that would allow me to ignore it, but as I am considering getting my choline intake up to "8 eggs" a day, which is going to take significant supplementation in addition to the 3 eggs a day I eat and the 16 lecithin capsules a day I currently take, I would like to know that what I am doing is safe. (I know already that lecithin is essential for me and that eggs are medicine - at my currently levels - they are too obviously supportive of me to dispute.)
https://evidencelive.org/too-much-acetylcholine/
If you can see all sorts of issues with it that could allow you to ignore it you might want to look for a better article.
I certainly do want to look for a better article, so maybe you can help me there, as I am sure you know them all. As the warning I was given was the problem of excess choline, and as I am attempting to get my choline levels up, there is every chance that I will slip into excess, what are the issues with excess choline? Can you point me to some definitive research on this. This is not a trivial matter to me. I am attempting to save my own life, so I am deadly serious about it, and do not have the time to mess around down blind alleys. Which is why I asked for your help.
I have just been listening to Professor Anita Baxas on Plaquex. Any ideas on it's effectiveness compared to lecithin capsules?
https://anitabaxasmd.substack.com/
I'm not familiar with it, sorry.
Chris Masterjohn, have you developed a line of research on co-factors that are necessary for effective choline metabolism? Over my 35+ years of using phosphatidylcholine in the form of lecithin capsules, to control Fibromyalgia, I have found that it does not work alone. If I take it alone, I experience no detectable benefits, but if I take it with fish oil I get to see benefits. Neither has any noticeable benefits without the other. In addition, on bad days when the lecithin and fish oil do not make me sufficiently functional, I take them with full fat unhomogenized milk, which increases their efficacy marginally, but enough to get me over the line. The three seem to work well together, although they never remove all FMS symptoms, and the impact only lasts a few hours. I have to dose 4 times a day and on bad days, also overnight.
I have interrogated ChatGPT on this and get lots of vague reasons why they MIGHT work synergistically together, but nothing definitive. Any ideas? If my genes doom me to a life of supplementing with choline, I am hoping to at least find the most efficient way of doing that. Fish oil seems to improve metabolism, milk seems to improve metabolism (as detected by FMS symptoms). What else?
rs1051266 TC T SLC19a1 +/-
rs2236225 GG A MTHFD1 G1958A -/-
rs1801131 TG G MTHFR A1298C +/-
rs1801133 AG A MTHFR C677T +/-
rs7946 TT T PEMT 5465G>A +/+
I'm not sure you have clear evidence of synergy here. You may just need both as both are incredibly important to brain function.
Well, I used my Ancestry file successfully.
How on earth does anyone eat the equivalent of 8 eggs per day? I already knew I struggle with choline and have used lecithin for over 30 years to manage the pain and stiffness of FMS, but the amount I need has increased over time and its effectiveness has reduced so there is more going on than just the choline content of phosphatidylcholine.
I have two eggs daily. I eat them as medicine and they control my blood sugar for the day. I also supplement with 16 lecithin capsules daily, but have to have them with an equivalent amount of fish oil and some saturated fat for them to be effective.
An “egg yolk equivalent” is 136 mg of choline.
So calculating from the 16 lecithin capsules I take daily, from ChatGPT.
"The amount of phosphatidylcholine and choline in 1.2 grams (1,200 mg) of lecithin depends on its source and composition, but typical soybean lecithin provides the following approximate ranges:
Phosphatidylcholine (PC):
Lecithin is generally about 20–30% phosphatidylcholine by weight.
In 1.2 grams of lecithin, this corresponds to 240–360 mg of phosphatidylcholine.
Choline Content:
Phosphatidylcholine contains about 13% choline by weight.
From 240–360 mg of phosphatidylcholine, this provides approximately 31–47 mg of choline."
So a lecithin capsule has approx 31-47 mg of choline per capsule I take 16 capsules of lecithin (1.2 g each) daily which provides approximately 499–749 mg of choline per day which is the same choline as approximately 3.7 to 5.5 large eggs.
So I am still not up to 8, but almost. I guess the remainder will be supplied by other foods, but I am surprised to find that my huge dose of lecithin is not overdosing choline.
Are there more effective ways of supplementing choline over and above dietary sources?
I have just been listening to Professor Anita Baxas on Plaquex. Any ideas on it's effectiveness compared to lecithin capsules?
https://anitabaxasmd.substack.com/
You can use the choline database for this:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/tools/2019/04/17/the-choline-database/
You can use the choline database for this:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/tools/2019/04/17/the-choline-database/
You can use the choline database for this:
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/tools/2019/04/17/the-choline-database/
The calculator seems to be down Chris?
This is an interesting calculator but I am dismayed to see eggs and other animal sources as the top suggested sources of choline. Plant sources are much healthier due to the absence of saturated fat. PCRM has a great article: https://www.pcrm.org/news/blog/clearing-choline-confusion.
Hi Chris,
I uploaded my Ultimate Compatibility File from Sequencing.com WGS to the choline calculator. I see in your calculator, for the rs1051266 variant in SLC19A1, you list the Variant allele as T. However, Sequencing.com's Genome Explorer shows that the risk allele for rs1051266 is C.
Why is there a difference between the calculator and Genome Explorer risk allele?
I have a tellmegen raw data file that I’ve been able to upload on every other site. I upload to yours and it allows the upload, but then says error.
Hi Chris, here Ben Lynch says it doesn’t matter how much choline you eat unless you fix the enzyme behind the process https://youtube.com/shorts/1oGbl6OHty4?si=sTTWrDCs1RXQov8H what do you think? It seems contradictory to what you say
Very interesting and helpful thanks. I'm curious whether a high "methylfolate score" also implies anything about your folate needs?
Hi! I downloaded my raw data from TellmeGen and it didn't work. I tried unzipping the file, which gave me a csv file. Didn't work. Tried converting it to a text file, that didn't work either. Any help?