Smarter Children Through Food Supplements

An anonymous reader writes "Baby rats (mmm...baby rats) fed a little extra choline in utero popped out with brain cells dramatically bigger and faster than pups who didn't receive the supplement. Duke University researchers say the implications are profound for humans and the future of learning."

Re:Not a chemist

[mgrassi99]

from the article:

Choline is a naturally occurring nutrient found in egg yolks, milk, nuts, fish, liver and other meats as well as in human breast milk. It is the essential building block for a memory-forming brain chemical called acetylcholine, and it plays a vital role in the formation of cell membranes throughout the body.

Side effects not so good

[Punchinello]

"May result in cirrhosis and fatty degeneration of the liver, hardening of the arteries, heart problems, high blood pressure, hemorrhaging kidneys."

I'm not so sure I want too much of that stuff in a human subject.

Re:Carefull.....

[Anonymous Coward]

or ephedra (cardiac arrest anyone?),

Careful, Ephedra works exactly the way it's supposed too(As a bronchial dialator and constricting agent). The people that experience negative effects either abuse it(read: take TOO MUCH) or shouldn't be taking it due to a prior condition. Yes, I take ephedra, and have on and off in cycles for 5+ years(now am 24). Do your own due dillgence and see what works for your body.

I can make the smae statment about aspirin: give 10000mg to an 80 yr old with low blood pressure and see what happens....


-k

Dur.

[big_groo]

Thank you Captain Obvious.

How about a recommending a balanced [nih.gov], healthy diet, with exercise, for pregrant [nih.gov] mothers -- *and* soon-to-be-fathers ?

PS. I'm not a scientist.

Re:Carefull.....

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a few suppliment companies that follow FDA guidlines in their manufacturing. It just requires a bit of research.

Re:smarter....

[Anonymous Coward]

Get a prism. Show her what white light is made of.
Explain that the blue light bends more and gets bounced all over the sky so that whichever way you look you see the the blue. Yellow and red come straight through so the sun looks yellow. You can simplify without lying to her.

Re:Not a chemist

[kfg]

And you'll find that fructose is the hardest of the simpler sugars for humans to digest. In fact endurance athletes will avoid it almost entirely since it creates havoc in the intestinal system while under stress. Even while not under stress. Many have had the experience of getting the "shits" from eating too much fruit, and you'll be hard pressed to live on it, with the possible exception of the banana, which ought to be revered.

Starches, such as found in grains and tubers, in the presence of sufficient water, will digest nearly as fast as sugar, which we derive from. . .a grass. Which is lovely to eat raw.

Oddly enough, we seem to be better tuned to water plants, such as rice, than land plants, where you'll also find fish. Go figure.

No, things aren't simple, and we're essentially omnivores, but If I had to choose one thing to live on entirely it would be fresh, green rice. We seem designed for it. If I could have two things I'd add bananas, which we also seem tuned for, in moderation. Any decent survivalist can tell you you run the risk of starving to death on a diet of fish, even fairly fatty ones like trout and salmon. The Inuit also eat a lot of seal, whale, etc.

However, suppliment starchy plants with fish, insects and the odd rodent or two and you have the nearly perfect human diet, so far as I can determine.

Without turning to fairly advanced tools you'll have a hard time catching and making a meal from a cow.

KFG

Re:Create or Cure?

[Daengbo]

Based on these [slashdot.org] two [slashdot.org] posts, he's apparently talking about some form of autism, either Kanner's or Asperger's, and from this one [slashdot.org], I am willing to bet that he is a she, though he could be gay, but the way the post is written comparing men to women makes me believe otherwise.
I'm intrigued because, although my sister is autistic, I didn't know anything about these two types until I read her/his posting history.
I'm looking at this site [aspergersyndrome.org] for more info.

Choline in food - the easy way

[SoundGuy666]

Liver, cauliflower, soybeans, spinach, lettuce, nuts, and wheat germ are decent natural sources of the stuff, and eggs contain rich veins of choline.

Re:Carefull.....

[JimBobJoe]

melatonin (extracted from bovine pineal gland commonly, prion diseases anyone?)

Search for "non-bovine melatonin" in google. One large supplement company also makes a melatonin [sourcenaturals.com] that says its suitable for vegetarians, an indication to me that its derived from non-animal sources.

ephedra (cardiac arrest anyone?)

Ephedra was incidentally discovered by the Chinese, its indicated for colds and flu [asia1.com.sg] in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and is obviously meant for short term use. TCM doctors are actually horrified by the idea of using Ephedra (ma huang) for weightloss.

Aristolochia fangchi (kidney damage or cancer anyone?)

According to this article [findarticles.com] AF was put into weightloss pills by mistake, due to the fact that the chinese name is similar to another herb. It is not indicated for anything.

shark cartilage (simply a lighter wallet anyone?)
Shark cartilage has indeed been rejected [lef.org] as a possible treatment for cancer.

these sorts of public proclamations are troublesome... any other unproven (not a troll, I am a scientist folks, so I want proof)

Though not juxtaposed, the lines above are odd next to each other, after all, this was not a random proclamation, this was indeed a scientific study, and I'm sure more will follow. You had some good examples, but they could be fairly easily explained (you missed one or two which are much uglier. :-)

But even then, I think that the modern record on supplements/herbs is very good. The injuries caused by supplements pales in comparison to those caused by derived pharmaceuticals, which are pretty strictly regulated.

Bah!

[Greyfox]

What's a little epilepsy when you've got NICE FAT NEURONS? And what's a little cardiac arrest when you can be nice and thin?

This smells like an advert for the herbal suppliments people. Remember, you can say anything on the label as long as you say that the FDA has not verified those claims in fine print somewhere on it. And people will buy into anything if you make it sound scientific and claim that Researchers at Some University [duke.edu] think it could be revolutionary. I bet you could convince people to take mercury suppliments without too much effort. Hell, there was just a story on NPR the other day about that being a problem in some South American countries.

Re:Not a chemist

[cdyson37]

No, the stuff you put in your swimming pool is chlorate(I) ions (usually sodium chlorate(I)). The alternative is ozone gas.

Re:Choline ke pichhe kya hai?

[Anonymous Coward]

OUCH! For those who don't know, the parent is referring to "choli ke pechhe", a mildly naughty song in Hindi, from a Bollywood picture.
"Choli ke pechhe kya hai?" translates as "what's under the blouse?"

Re:Choline Supplement

[whig]

DMAE (Dimethylaminoethanol) is another choline-related supplement that has a more immediate effect due to it's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier directly (choline does not). Once DMAE enters the brain, it is methylated (Kreb's cycle) to choline, and has very noticeable effects.

Re:Not a chemist

[TheLink]

Actually the appendix is part of your immune system (just like your tonsils), it does some useful stuff, just many scientists aren't aware of what it does yet. Go look it up on google or something.

Re:Not a chemist

[Shurhaian]

Humans cannot subsist on an all-natural diet of only plants. One of the vitamins(K, I think, or B12; don't have a textbook handy) is not found in plant matter. Its absence over time leads to pernicious anemia.

Bread is usually fortified with this vitamin, which is why modern-day vegetarians can get by. This leads me to believe it may be B12, since K is a fat-soluble vitamin, overdose of which is much more likely to be nasty than with the water-soluble B complex. Excess of those can strain the kidneys, but it'd have to be rather extreme.

I am not a biochemist, but I did study it in university.