Citicoline is a nutrient commonly sold as a brain supplement to improve overall mental performance. It helps raise levels of essential neurotransmitters, increase mental energy, and protect the brain from damage and aging.
But it does much more than that. Citicoline can boost levels of essential neurotransmitters, increase the energy available to the brain, and protect it from foreign substances.
What Is CDP Choline
Citicoline is a naturally occurring compound found in every cell in the body, but it’s crucial for the brain cells.
It’s found in very few foods, and the best sources are foods not often served in the Western diet, mainly liver and brain.
Some citicoline can be synthesized from the choline in choline-rich foods like eggs, beef, and seafood. But if you want the therapeutic brain benefits of citicoline, you can’t count on getting more from food beyond what your body usually manufactures.
You’ll need to take a supplement.
When you take a citicoline supplement, it gets broken down into choline and cytidine, which are readily absorbed in the intestines.
These substances then easily cross the blood-brain barrier and are re-formed into citicoline.
Choline has been found to increase motor speed, improve attention, increase energy to the brain, encourage the formation of brain cells (neurons), and reduce the impulsiveness of ADHD.
Choline plays an integral part in many processes in your body, including:
- Cell structure: It is needed to make fats that support the structural integrity of cell membranes.
- Cell messaging: It produces compounds that act as cell messengers.
- Fat transport and metabolism: It is essential for making a substance that removes cholesterol from your liver. Inadequate choline may result in fat and cholesterol buildup in your liver.
- DNA synthesis: Choline and other vitamins, such as B12 and folate, help with a process necessary for DNA synthesis.
- A healthy nervous system: This nutrient is required to make acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter. It involves memory, muscle movement, heartbeat regulation, and other essential functions.
Six Benefits Of CDP Choline
1. Citicoline Raises Levels of Important Brain Chemicals
Brain cells communicate with each other via brain chemicals called neurotransmitters.
Citicoline raises the levels of several important neurotransmitters, including acetylcholine and dopamine.
Acetylcholine is the brain chemical associated with memory and learning. You need acetylcholine to turn short-term memories into long-term ones.
Unfortunately, many prescription drugs are anticholinergic, which means that they block the action of acetylcholine.
A good rule of thumb is that any medication that starts with “anti,” such as antihistamines or antidepressants, is likely to affect your acetylcholine levels.
This includes over-the-counter remedies like the antihistamine Benadryl.
If you take any anticholinergic medications, supplementing them with citicoline will help normalize your levels of acetylcholine.
Dopamine is the “motivation molecule” since it increases motivation, productivity, and focus. A low dopamine level can leave you feeling depressed and “blah” with little enthusiasm for life.
People low in this brain chemical often self-medicate with caffeine, sugar, and other stimulants.
They are prone to substance abuse and engage in other risky behaviors to get a dopamine boost.
Taking citicoline is a safe way to increase dopamine naturally.
It works in two ways — by raising the level of dopamine and by increasing the number of dopamine receptors in the brain.
2. Citicoline Increases Energy Available to the Brain
The brain uses a lot of energy — 20% of the body’s daily calorie and oxygen intake. But the brain can’t store energy, so it needs a constant supply.
It gets energy, usually in the form of glucose, from blood flowing to the brain.
Citicoline enhances glucose metabolism and increases blood flow to the brain.
Poor circulation to the brain can cause neurological problems, including memory loss, fatigue, vertigo, and stroke.
Citicoline is so effective at increasing circulation to the brain that doctors throughout Europe have been prescribing it for this reason for years.
Another way that citicoline increases brain energy is by firing up brain cell mitochondria.
3. Citicoline Protects the Brain From Harmful Foreign Substances
Every brain cell has a semipermeable membrane that acts as a gatekeeper.
This membrane lets in the nutrients, water, and oxygen brain cells need while filtering out harmful foreign substances.
It does this so elegantly and intelligently that it’s been called the “brain of the cell.”
But brain cell membranes can get leaky, letting metabolic waste, heavy metals, toxins, pathogens, and other unwanted invaders into the brain.
Citicoline plays an essential role in cell membrane integrity.
It’s the precursor of phosphatidylcholine, a phospholipid that is a significant component of brain cell membranes.
It is also a natural cell membrane stabilizer, which is one of the reasons it’s so helpful in treating strokes.
4. Citicoline Slows Down Brain Cell Aging
Two major underlying causes of cellular aging are free radical damage and inflammation. Citicoline can offset the harmful effects of both.
The brain is under constant attack from free radicals, unattached oxygen molecules that attack cells like oxygen attacks metal, causing it to rust.
Since the brain uses so much oxygen, it’s susceptible to free radical damage (oxidative stress).
Free radicals trigger inflammation, a major cause of cellular aging.
Brain inflammation contributes to a wide variety of brain-related conditions, including:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- anxiety
- bipolar disorder
- brain fog
- depression
- memory loss
- Parkinson’s disease
- Schizophrenia
5. Citicoline Is Used to HELP IMPROVE Serious Neurological Disorders
Citicoline shows promise in helping improve a wide variety of neurological conditions, including:
- Age-related memory loss
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Dementia
- glaucoma
- Parkinson’s disease
- Stroke
It can reduce the severity of symptoms resulting from traumatic head injuries.
Here are some of the mechanisms by which citicoline can help even serious neurological disorders:
- increases blood flow to the brain
- protects the brain from further damage
- builds healthy cell membranes
- increases neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to renew itself continually
- increases neurogenesis, the capacity to grow new brain cells
- increases acetylcholine levels
- choline blocks the production of amyloid-beta plaques — a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease
6. Citicoline Aids Mental Health Disorders
Citicoline positively impacts brain function in some exciting and diverse ways.
By increasing dopamine, citicoline reduces drug cravings in cocaine addicts. It helps repair brain cell membranes damaged by cocaine use.
Citicoline changes the brain’s response to food stimuli, which can significantly decrease appetite, making it useful for eating disorders.
In patients with schizophrenia, citicoline has improved numerous cognitive functions like processing speed, working memory, verbal learning, and verbal memory. Citicoline also exhibits antidepressant properties, especially in early-onset Alzheimer’s patients. To learn more about how CDP Choline can benefit you,
