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How Alpha GPC makes your brain smarter and stronger
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How important is supercharging your memory and strengthening your brain’s structure? If your response is “very important”, you would be interested to know that one nutrient can help you achieve that. It is called choline and is found in foods like beef liver, eggs, almonds, and baked beans [1] or in supplements like Alpha GPC to ensure that your brain always has a steady supply.
Best choline supplement
Choline benefits your brain in multiple ways, including forming part of the brain’s structure, which makes its regular adequate intake highly important. Supplements are a safe and efficient way to top up choline levels if your dietary intake fluctuates. There are multiple choline supplements found in the market. The best for brain health should enter the brain easily and provide high amounts of choline to raise levels quickly.
The current science shows that Alpha GPC checks all the boxes:
- Alpha GPC can freely cross into the brain’s guarded entrance, called the blood-brain barrier. When entering a high-security building, you go through many checks before you are allowed to enter. Similarly, your brain has secure entry gates which allow only important compounds to pass through. While Alpha GPC is allowed an easy entrance, the entry of another choline supplement, choline bitartrate, is restricted.
- Alpha GPC is one of the highest choline sources available, 41% by weight. This is more than double the choline available by another brain-benefiting supplement called citicoline (CDP choline), which is 18% choline by weight.
- Alpha GPC benefits over citicoline is that it reaches more regions of the brain [2]. When picking a delivery service, you would prefer one that can deliver parcels all over the country with quick delivery times. Alpha GPC supplies choline to many brain areas and is incorporated into the brain cells within 24 hours [4].
Read more about different forms of choline here.
Due to its ease of entry, sufficiency and efficiency, choline from Alpha GPC can benefit the brain in 3 evidenced ways.
Can Alpha GPC improve memory?
The brain chemical responsible for your memory and attention is acetylcholine. So, how to increase acetylcholine? As the name suggests, it is produced from choline. Want to focus better and maximize work efficiency by increasing acetylcholine levels? Take Alpha GPC. It is one of the best acetylcholine supplements because it increases levels within 1-3 hours [3], in three areas of the brain, including the area for learning and memory [9]. This means you can learn faster and retain your test material better. Over 1000 people studied for 7 years highlighted the association between higher choline intake and better memory [10]. Increasing acetylcholine levels was associated with better reaction time in cognitive tests [11].
Brain feed has created the world’s 1st capsule containing 99% Alpha GPC (the purest form), providing 500 mg Alpha GPC dosage.
Can Alpha GPC strengthen the blood-brain barrier?
The blood-brain barrier, your brain’s vigilant entrance is a protective mechanism. It is well designed and composed of different kinds of cells, just like a security system is made of different locks and passwords. These different locks and passwords, or brain cells, must be well maintained and lubricated to work effectively. Choline sources like Alpha GPC help to maintain the integrity by protecting the brain cells’ coating [5]. An animal study found that supplementation with Alpha GPC reduced disruption of the blood-brain barrier during injury and improved brain cell growth, while citicoline had the opposite effect [6].
Can Alpha GPC make your brain stronger?
Choline containing compounds are part of the structure of the brain. For your house to stand strong for decades, it must have a well-built foundation and pillars. Choline helps your brain’s pillars stay put. Because your brain needs choline in different areas, choline-needing brain cells will breakdown the brain structure (pillars) to fulfil their need for choline [5]. Your house needs to be protected against weather conditions and damage. Your brain needs the same protection against inflammation. Inflammation can lead to brain cell damage and increased risk of brain disorders. 4 weeks of Alpha GPC supplementation in an animal study led to decrease in production of inflammatory cells, which signifies preservation of brain cells [7]. It also decreased deposition of harmful compounds that lead to inflammation [5]. Alpha GPC has shown benefit in stressful situations. Animal studies of 7 days of stress, followed by Alpha GPC supplementation found that it helped reduce stress-induced memory loss [8] and was protective towards new brain cells and promoted their growth [8].
By ensuring adequate provision of choline to your brain, Alpha GPC is one of the most efficient choline supplements that can increase acetylcholine levels to make you smarter, while providing structural protection so your brain stays strong for decades.
References
- Wiedeman, A.M. et al. (2018). Dietary Choline Intake: Current State of Knowledge Across the Life Cycle. Nutrients, [online] 10(10).
- Frank, K. et al. (2022). CDP-choline Research Analysis. examine.com. [online]
- Frank, K. et al. (2022). Alpha-GPC Research Analysis. examine.com. [online]
- Parnetti, L. et al. (2007). Cholinergic precursors in the treatment of cognitive impairment of vascular origin: Ineffective approaches or need for re-evaluation? Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 257(1-2), pp.264–269.
- Roy, P. et al. (2022). Effects of choline containing phospholipids on the neurovascular unit: A review. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 16, 988759.
- Lee, M. et al. (2018). Unexpected Effects of Acetylcholine Precursors on Pilocarpine Seizure- Induced Neuronal Death. Current neuropharmacology, 16(1), 51–58.
- Tayebati, S. K. et al. (2009). Neuroprotective effect of treatment with galntamine and choline alphoscerate on brain microanatomy in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Journal of the neurological sciences, 283(1-2), 187–194.
- Jeong Yu, H. et al. (2022). The effect of choline alphoscerate on non spatial memory and neuronal differentiation in a rat model of dual stress. Brain research, 1786, 147900.
- Tayebati, S. K., & Amenta, F. (2013). Choline-containing phospholipids: relevance to brain functional pathways. Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine, 51(3), 513–521.
- Poly, C. et al. (2011). The relation of dietary choline to cognitive performance and white-matter hyperintensity in the Framingham Offspring Cohort. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, [online] 94(6), pp.1584–1591.
- Klinkenberg, I. et al. (2011). Acetylcholine and attention. Behavioural brain research, [online] 221(2), pp.430–42.
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