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Health Line
6 days ago
- Health
- Health Line
What Is Choline? An Essential Nutrient With Many Benefits
Choline is a vital nutrient, but many people do not consume the recommended intake. Beef and chicken liver, salmon, and eggs are among the richest dietary sources of choline. Choline was only acknowledged as a required nutrient by the Institute of Medicine in 1998. Although your body makes some choline naturally, you need to get it from your diet to avoid a deficiency. Many people are not meeting the recommended intake for this nutrient. This article provides everything you need to know about choline, including what it is and why you need it. What is choline? Choline is an essential nutrient. This means it's required for normal bodily function and human health. Though your liver can make small amounts, you must obtain the majority through your diet. Choline is an organic, water-soluble compound. It is neither a vitamin nor a mineral. However, it is often grouped with the vitamin B complex due to its similarities. In fact, this nutrient affects a number of vital bodily functions. It impacts liver function, healthy brain development, muscle movement, your nervous system and metabolism. Therefore, adequate amounts are needed for optimal health. Serves many functions in your body Choline plays an important 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 is involved in the production of compounds that act as cell messengers. Fat transport and metabolism: It is essential for making a substance required for removing 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 that's important for DNA synthesis. A healthy nervous system: This nutrient is required to make acetylcholine, an important neurotransmitter. It's involved in memory, muscle movement, regulating heartbeat and other basic functions. How much do you need? Due to a lack of available evidence, a Reference Daily Allowance (RDA) for choline has not been determined. However, the Institute of Medicine has set a value for adequate intake (AI). This value is intended to be sufficient for most healthy people, helping them avoid negative consequences of deficiency, such as liver damage. Nevertheless, requirements differ according to age, gender, and genetic makeup. In addition, determining choline intake is difficult because its presence in various foods is relatively unknown. Here are the recommended AI values of choline for different age groups: 0–6 months: 125 mg per day 7–12 months: 150 mg per day 1–3 years: 200 mg per day 4–8 years: 250 mg per day 9–13 years: 375 mg per day 14–18 years: 400 mg per day for females and 550 mg per day for males Adult females: 425 mg per day Adult males: 550 mg per day People breastfeeding: 550 mg per day Pregnant people: 430 mg per day Deficiency is unhealthy but rare Choline deficiency can cause harm, especially for your liver. One small, older study in 57 adults found that 77% of men, 80% of postmenopausal women and 44% of premenopausal women developed fatty liver and/or muscle damage after going on a choline-deficient diet. Another older study noted that when postmenopausal women consumed a diet deficient in choline, 73% developed liver or muscle dysfunction. However, these symptoms disappeared once they began getting enough choline. Choline is especially important during pregnancy, as a low intake may raise the risk of neural tube defects in unborn babies. Another older study determined that a higher dietary intake around the time of conception was associated with a lower risk of neural tube defects. In addition, low choline intake may raise your risk of other pregnancy complications. These include preeclampsia, premature birth and low birth weight. Top dietary sources Choline can be obtained from a variety of foods and supplements. Food sources Dietary sources are generally in the form of phosphatidylcholine from lecithin, a type of fat-like molecule found in lecithin. The richest dietary sources of choline include: Food Portion Amount of choline contained (mg) Pan-fried beef liver 1 slice (3 ounces or 85 grams) 356 Hardboiled eggs 1 large egg 147 Lean braised beef top round 3 ounces or 85 grams 117 Roasted soybeans Half a cup 107 Roasted chicken breast 3 ounces or 85 grams 72 Cooked fresh cod 3 ounces or 85 grams 71 Baked red potatoes with skin 1 large potato 57 Canned kidney beans Half a cup 45 Additives and supplements Soy lecithin is a widely used food additive that contains choline. Therefore, it is likely that extra choline is consumed through the diet via food additives. Some additive and supplemental forms of chlorine include: lecithin phosphatidylcholine choline chloride CDP-choline alpha-GPC betaine Some sources claim that choline in nutritional supplements may reduce body fat, but there is little to no evidence supporting these claims. Impact on heart health Elevated levels of homocysteine in your blood have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and strokes, as well as lower blood pressure. However, evidence is mixed, and more studies are needed to confirm any positive link. Choline helps convert the amino acid homocysteine to methionine. Therefore, a deficiency of choline can result in an accumulation of homocysteine in your blood. Impact on your brain Choline is required to produce acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in regulating memory, mood and intelligence. It's also needed for the process that synthesizes DNA, which is important for brain function and development. Therefore, choline intake is associated with improvements in brain function and cognitive performance. Observational studies link higher choline intake to better brain function and a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. However, further studies on this subject are needed to better understand whether choline supplementation would affect cognitive function. Too much can be harmful Consuming too much choline has been associated with unpleasant and potentially harmful side effects. These include drops in blood pressure, sweating, fishy body odor, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The daily upper limit for adults is 3,500 mg per day. This is the highest level of intake that is unlikely to cause harm. It is very unlikely that someone could ingest this amount from food alone. It would be almost impossible to reach this level without taking supplements in large doses.
Iraq Business
7 days ago
- Business
- Iraq Business
Iraq Issues 165 New Industrial Project Licences in April
By John Lee. The Directorate General of Industrial Development, part of Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Minerals, issued 165 preliminary licences for new industrial projects across various sectors during April 2025. Director General Dr. Eng. Ali Ibrahim Janan stated that the approvals cover food, chemical, metal, construction, textile, and engineering industries. Baghdad led with 26 licences, followed by Nineveh (24), Basra (20), Anbar (13), and others including Karbala, Salahuddin, Najaf, Wasit, Diyala, Babil, Kirkuk, Diwaniyah, Maysan, and Muthanna. The directorate also: Allocated 72 plots of land for industrial projects, Issued 30 establishment completion certificates for projects meeting the requirements under Industrial Investment Law No. 20 of 1998, Granted 437 annual need assessments for raw materials, supporting coordination with relevant authorities. Additional services in April included ID renewals, licence reactivations, and on-site inspections. (Source: Ministry of Industry and Minerals)
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Woman discovers 1998 Woolworths receipt for Aqua album - and fans are nostalgic about more than just the prices
A woman has caused a stir online after she revealed how much she paid for an Aqua album from Woolworths in 1998. Kayley Arnold shared a picture of the receipt on Facebook, leaving social media users shocked by the £11 price. The post was captioned: 'I still have the receipt in my AQUA CD case. 14.2.1998. I was only 12! Many moons ago'. Fans of the band flocked to the comments section to point out that, with inflation, the Aquarium album would be priced much higher today. One person wrote: 'According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator, £11 in 1998 would be £21.04 now. 'I wonder how many people in 2025 would happily pay £21 for a CD album.' Another added: 'It's kinda crazy that with inflation and everything having shot right up compared to those days, that music/CD's have either stayed the same or even got cheaper. No wonder artists are f*****!' And it wasn't just the cheap album price that left fans nostalgic, as some expressed how they miss the 'good old' days of CDs. 'Oh I do miss the excitement for popping into town after school and going into woolies to buy your favourite CD. Good times', one person said. A second added: 'Nowadays you pay that to stream almost any song in existence from anybody. 'The days of buying a cd or video were much more exciting than having everything at your fingertips whenever you want.' A third wrote: 'My ow my I'll never say goodbye to Aqua, but I wish I could turn back time to the good old days of CDs, while a fourth said, 'Wasn't life so much better then and the shops'. Someone else commented: 'Love this!! I bought this album too. I loved aqua. I loved Woolworths. 1998, What nostalgia.' Aquarium is the debut studio album by Danish band Aqua, released on March 26 1997. The album is best known for including the globally successful single 'Barbie Girl', as well as the popular track 'Lollipop'. After the success of Barbie Girl, Aqua went on to produce three studio albums, Aquarium in 1997, Aquarius in 2000 and Megalomania in 2011. The band, formed in 1989, was comprised of Lene, René, a spikey-haired Søren and guitarist Claus Norreen. It comes after last year data showed that vinyls are fast becoming one of the most popular forms of music. Gross income from vinyl is set to overtake CDs for the first time since they fell out of favour in the 1980s. A report published by Spotifiy's former economist, Will Page, found that records will bring in more than $1bn (£787m) for labels in the US alone by the end of 2024. Mr Page wrote: 'Globally, vinyl will soon overtake CDs — a real sign of the format times.' However, it isn't vinyl's superior sound quality which is behind this trend, as studies have shown that half of record buyers don't even own a turntable. Instead, experts suggested that fans are snapping up vinyl as a form of merchandise which gives them a feeling of connection to the bands they love. In 2024, big artists like Taylor Swift, Adele, and Billie Eilish all jumped on the trend, releasing multiple, expensive physical variations of the same albums. Although vinyl records were deemed all but obsolete after the rise of CDs and digital streaming, the format has seen a stunning resurgence in recent years. Writing in Billboard Pro, Mr Page said that vinyl sales have 'surpassed expectations' for each of the last 18 years. In 2023, record labels' income grew by 12 per cent, mainly driven by a 10 per cent rise in the value of streaming. However, last year's report shows that vinyl actually grew faster than streaming in percentage terms - up 15.4 per cent on the year before. In 2019, industry analysts hailed a vinyl revival when revenues hit $504 million (£397m), the highest figure since 1988.
Daily Maverick
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Maverick
Swimming South Africa may have sunk its legal case against South Africa Water Polo
The decision on Swimming South Africa's attempted interdict against the newly formed South Africa Water Polo is pending after blunders blight the national federation's case. Swimming South Africa appears to have sunk its Western Cape Division of the High Court case in an attempt to interdict the newly formed South Africa Water Polo. There were several blunders in both Swimming SA's heads of argument, written and sent to the court before the court date, as well as its lawyer's defence set out before Judge Judith Cloete on Wednesday. Towards the end of proceedings, Swimming SA conceded that SA Water Polo did not need its consent to exist, practically relinquishing the original reason for its request for an interdict against the water polo body. Swimming SA also did not stipulate in its heads of argument which statutory right, which forms the basis of its case, SA Water Polo transgressed. Later, Swimming SA stated that SA Water Polo was passing itself off as the governing body for water polo. It simultaneously claimed that SA Water Polo was a body parallel to Swimming SA. Judge Cloete said the statements were contradictory. After a back-and-forth, Swimming SA submitted that only the latter was true, that SA Water Polo was a parallel body and was not passing itself off as the administrator of the sport. Sinking defence Swimming SA, in its argument, referred to Section 1 of the National Sport and Recreation Act 110 of 1998 (NSRA Act) in its defence. The NSRA defines a national federation as the national governing body for a code of sport 'recognised by the relevant controlling international … body as the only authority for the administration and control of the relative code of sport … in the Republic'. But Judge Cloete contended that SA Water Polo had never purported to be a national federation, but instead, a national body. The difference was that there could be only one national federation, but several national bodies. An organisation also first became a national body before becoming a national federation. Swimming SA attempted to argue the merits of SA Water Polo's future application for membership of World Aquatics, but the judge ruled this as irrelevant to the current court case, and something that World Aquatics would have to decide on. Judge Cloete continually asked Swimming SA's lawyers which law stated that there could be no other national body besides itself. Swimming SA eventually concurred that a separate national body was permitted to exist, 'but it won't get [SA Water Polo] anywhere'. The judge asked: given Swimming SA's acceptance of SA Water Polo as a national body, why then was Swimming SA asking for an interdict against SA Water Polo if it recognised its right to exist? The court proceedings began with Swimming SA claiming that SA Water Polo should not be allowed to exist, but after Swimming SA could not cite laws inhibiting SA Water Polo's existence, it moved on to arguing that SA Water Polo's existence came with 'consequences'. The consequences, Swimming SA said, included that members of SA Water Polo would not qualify for provincial or national representation because they would not be members of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc). Swimming SA also argued that SA Water Polo members would be unable to participate in organised water polo events such as the Olympic Games and the World Championships because it was not yet a registered member of World Aquatics. The World Aquatics Championships are set to take place in Singapore in July 2025. Swimming SA argued that SA Water Polo had disrupted the preparation for this event, in which the national men's and women's water polo teams were expected to participate. Constitutional rights Swimming SA said that SA Water Polo had interfered with Swimming SA's governance and administration of the sport by urging its water polo members to join SA Water Polo. SA Water Polo used section 18 of the South African Constitution dealing with the freedom of association in its defence. Section 18 encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membership based on certain criteria. SA Water Polo argued that neither the NSRA Act nor Sascoc's constitution inhibited SA Water Polo from existing, which meant that Swimming SA was not entitled to an interdict. SA Water Polo's lawyers used a letter of intent, published on 19 March – which had prompted Swimming SA to seek the interdict – as the basis of its argument that the water polo body was not attempting to usurp Swimming SA, as claimed. There was no evidence, based on the letter of intent, that SA Water Polo had attempted to usurp SA Swimming, the lawyers submitted. Members When Judge Cloete requested evidence that SA Water Polo had claimed to be the administrators of water polo in the country, Swimming SA indicated that members had left its federation to join SA Water Polo. Judge Cloete said that regardless of her decision, she could not force members to rejoin Swimming SA because they were not party to the court proceedings. She said that no evidence had been provided by Swimming SA on why those members had 'jumped pool', so SA Water Polo could not be blamed.
The Journal
13-05-2025
- Health
- The Journal
Indian restaurant in Dublin among eight food businesses closed over 'serious' hygiene issues
'SERIOUS INAPPROPRIATE' HYGIENE practices led to the closure of one popular Dublin restaurant after inspectors found human excrement on and around sanitary facilities for staff. Namaste Indian Restaurant in Smithfield in Dublin 7 was among eight food businesses who were issued with closure orders by food safety inspectors last month, the latest report details. Two closure orders were issued for breaches of national regulatory standards, while six others, including Namaste's, were issued for breaches of European regulatory standards. The Food Safety Authority also issued two improvement orders last month. An inspector's report of the Namaste restaurant states that an exam of the property on 25 April found 'faecal matter smeared on the wall of the staff sanitary facility, after staff had used it'. It was also noted that the wall was 'stained' from the faecal matter and that a 'dirty bottle of hand was soap was available on the sink unit and no paper towels or other means of hand drying'. There was also a lack of frequent the handwashing observed during the inspection, in particular during food preparation and handling unclean equipment such as knives and chopping boards. Advertisement Utensils were also not property cleaned, the report says, and a handwash basin in the kitchen was used to prepare vegetables on an unclean chopping board during the inspection. The chef and owner were not wearing clear protective clothing during the preparation of food and there was evidence of grime, grit and debris in all the sinks and on the sponges. There was no evidence that staff were adequately trained either, the report added. An inspector also found little evidence that food was traced properly at the restaurant, with nothing suggesting to them upon the examination that there was a routine and permanent food safety procedure in place. 'Lack of a good food safety culture will give rise to non-compliances with food legislation, which can pose risk to food safety,' the inspector wrote before signing and approving the closure order. Mouse droppings in Dublin Café The two closure orders served under the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act, 1998 were given to the Greenville Deli in Monkstown and Soul Bakery in Ballymount, in Dublin. An inspector present at Greenville Deli on 15 April found mouse droppings in a number of locations around the restaurant, including in a cupboard containing milk storages and on the floor of the store room where food was present. The five other businesses were issued closure orders under the EU's Regulations, 2020 were The City Arms Gastro Bar in Waterford, the Tasty takeaway in Limerick, Bojon Spices in Dunboyne, Co Meath, Barne Lodge café in Clonmel, Co Tipperary and Rio Latte Bar in Dublin. Two businesses were told to improve their food safety practices, Sancta Maria Nursing Home in Co Meath and retailer Sligo Spice in Sligo. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
