My husband is concerned about his brain. He exercises, is lean, and eats right, but increasingly he says he has a hard time remembering the right word or clearly articulating his thoughts. So, when I attended a lecture by Drs. Deborah Yurgelun-Todd and Perry Renshaw from The Brain Institute of the University of Utah on the brain health benefits of the dietary supplement, CognizinÒ citicoline, I was intrigued. (The session was sponsored by Kyowa Hakko, USA (http://kyowa-usa.com/), a global manufacturer of compounds used in dietary supplements and CognizinÒ brand citicoline).
After the conference I did some research by starting with
Natural Medicines and then doing a literature search through Pub Med (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) to learn more about citicoline. I also contacted Dr. Yurgelun-Todd
about her research on citicoline, as she has been studying it for over a decade. I found that citicoline was originally used as a
treatment for individuals who had a stroke. It is estimated that 2 million brain cells die
every minute after a stroke so early treatment is essential to preserve the
brain and maintain normal function. In a recent review of citicoline used in
stroke patients, it was found that citicoline was safe to use and had beneficial
effects on recovery, especially in older patients (>70 yrs) who had no other
treatments. One study found that when citicoline was given to stroke patients
within 3 hours, they were more likely to have complete recovery compared to
those who got a placebo. Not all studies find such great results, but overall
the evidence of a positive improvement in brain function after a stroke is well
founded.
Food is not a good source of citicoline; only a small amount
is found in organ meats. When citicoline is taken orally (in a pill) it is
broken down into a B-vitamin, choline, and cytidine which is further
metabolized into a compound called uridine. Both choline and uridine can cross
the blood brain barrier and once in the brain, they can be converted back to
citicoline, sometimes referred to as CDP-choline. Within the brain citicoline
has several actions. First, it helps stimulate the production of cell
membranes. Second, citicoline increases the production of the neurotransmitters
which have been shown to increase attention, focus and memory.
Research on citicoline for other disorders where cognitive
abilities are affected is scant, but promising. Researchers can’t yet say that
citicoline will improve memory or cognition in individuals with Alzheimer’s
disease, Bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease or traumatic brain injury, but
stay tuned as more research is conducted in these areas.
I asked Dr. Yurgelun-Todd what she would say about healthy 50+ adults taking citicoline and she said that there is some good evidence to support the use of the supplement on improved focus and sustained attention. Her studies have used doses ranging from 250-4000 mg/day but she says a dose of 250-500 mg/day is effective and well-tolerated.
What about my husband? He has been taking citicoline for a couple of
months (250 mg twice a day) and notices an improvement in word finding and
clarity in conversations. He said he sometimes had to “think in pictures” when
telling a story, but now he thinks he has better mental clarity. Of course,
this is anecdotal. As for his memory, well, he still leaves the house without
his wallet and phone and can’t find the milk in the refrigerator, but he feels
it has helped him and that is a good thing.
