Choline for plant-based diets. What is choline and where do you find it? Here’s why choline matters and best plant-based sources of choline.
We’re big proponents that a well-planned plant-based diet can provide all of the nutrients you need, a position also kept by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
That’s one reason we like to spotlight individual nutrients – so you can understand why they matter and where to find them.
Today we’re covering a micronutrient that you may not be very familiar with, but turns out that it’s pretty important both during pregnancy and beyond.
Choline.
Around 90-95% of pregnant women don’t consume enough choline, regardless of what diet they follow.
What is Choline?
Choline is a key micronutrient for liver health, memory, mood, muscle control, and other brain and nervous system function.
And when it comes to pregnancy, choline plays a major role in brain development for baby.
One 2012 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology showed that getting enough choline, vitamin B12, and folate during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy increased memory and learning scores in 7-year-old kids by 1.4 points after adjusting for other maternal characteristics.
Proper choline intake may also help to reduce the risk of neural tube defects, which are birth defects of the brain and spinal cord. The two most common include spina bifida and anencephaly.
Choline is made in small amounts in our liver, but it’s unfortunately not enough to avoid deficiency.
This means we need to get it from our diet, too.
How Much Choline Do I Need?
The RDA of choline for women is 425 mg per day.
This jumps to 450 mg per day during pregnancy, and 550 mg per day while breastfeeding.
Children between ages 1-3 years old need between 200-375 mg of choline per day.
To meet these needs, we recommend including 2-3 servings of choline-rich foods per day.
Sources of Choline
Choline is found in small amounts of most plant foods, which is good news for a predominantly plant-based diet.
Some of the best plant-based sources of choline include:
- Soybeans = 100 mg per 1/2 cup
- Wheat germ = 50 mg per 1 oz
- Kidney beans = 45 mg per 1/2 cup
If you follow a vegetarian diet, eggs are another rich source, offering around 150 mg of choline each.
Choline Supplementation
If you aren’t sure whether you’re meeting your choline needs through diet, it’s easy to supplement.
We recommend plant-based mamas-to-be and breastfeeding mamas supplement with around half of the RDA for choline – just to be safe.
Choline supplements are not recommended for children, however.
Simply prioritize choline-rich foods in your child’s diet to meet their needs.
Can You Get Too Much Choline?
Yes!
Excess choline is mainly a concern with high-dose supplements, so don’t exceed the RDAs outlined above.
However, there is also a concern that eating a lot of choline can lead to an increased production of a compound associated with heart disease called trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO.
The good news is that it appears people who follow a plant-based diet may have a reduced capacity to produce TMAO compared to omnivores, which is pretty cool in our opinion.
Regardless, during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and early childhood, the benefits of optimal choline intake clearly outweigh any potential risk.
So, make sure you get enough of this nutrient from foods and/or supplementation to support you and your babe!
We hope this helps shed light on why choline matters and some of the best plant-based sources of choline. If you know someone who would benefit from better understanding choline for plant-based diets, share this post!
For more prenatal nutrition advice, be sure to check out our Predominantly Plant-Based Pregnancy Guide.
Chime In: Were you already familiar with choline before reading this post? What are some good sources of choline in your diet?
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Is there choline in tofu? I’ve tried to research it and I haven’t found anything.
Thank you,
Joan
Yes, 1/2 cup of tofu contains ~35mg of choline. The better sources are actually edamame and soy milk. 1 cup soy milk contains ~57mg choline and a cup of edamame is ~87mg.
Can babies 6-12 mo have an edamame bean purée?
Yes
If children between ages 1-3 years old need between 200-375 mg of choline per day, then they would need to drink almost 4 cups of soy milk a day to get that much? Or eat over 2c of edamame? Every day? I know there’s a little bit of choline in a lot of plant-based foods, but it seems like a stretch to get that much in, especially for a 1 year old. I would love to see an example of a day’s meals that really includes the recommended amount.
Soy milk has 60 mg a cup, so with 2 cups you’d be 2/3 of the way to meeting the RDA for a 1 year old. The remaining 80 could be met with little bits from tofu, potatoes, beans, etc.
For adults, what are some other high sources of choline plant-based foods other than wheat germ and soy (and kidney beans)? I’m vegan and have a wheat and soy allergy. I’m pregnant and my prenatal only contains 300 mg of choline. So I’m concerned that I’m probably not going to get enough choline from diet alone. Thanks!
Hi Marie, if you aren’t able to get enough through your diet, then I’d recommend supplementing with additional choline. You can likely get enough with foods depending on their diet with pregnancy, but may need more of a bump with breastfeeding. You can see a full list of choline containing foods here: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-HealthProfessional/
Hi Marie, Our baby is coming up to 1 year old and I’ve been researching how to get his daily recommended choline – it looks really difficult as he has a soy allergy. Even if I include half an egg every day and a 1/4 cup of yogurt every day he’ll still struggle to get to 200mg per day minimum. (and not much chance to reach the higher level of 375mg per day). I can see how it would work with more soy/soy milk in the diet – Can you help with any suggestions?
Sorry just realised that should have been addressed to Alex & Whitney!
Hi Joe! Yes, with a soy allergy it would likely be much harder to meet on an exclusive plant-based diet alone. Eggs are a great source and 1 egg contains ~140mg of choline. There are other plant-based sources of choline, just not as rich as soy and then eggs. This is a great table with many other sources of foods with choline: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-HealthProfessional/#h3
Do you have a particular favourite vegan-friendly supplement? I had been taking a Solgar one but then read a few concerning reports about contamination in Solgar products. Would love it if you could share your favourite brands!
What about Nature’s Way? They have a choline one that’s vegan, easy to find and fairly inexpensive
Thanks for the recommendation! I saw the Nature’s Way choline on iHerb but I wasn’t sure they were a reputable brand (supplements in the US don’t seem to be as regulated as they are here in Australia). It’s a shame they don’t offer a lower dose but given they’re tablets, I might be able to cut them. 😊
I’m 8.5 weeks pregnant, and I am confused about choline. I’ve been taking Solgar choline bitartrate 350 mg each day for a while now, since before pregnancy, because I know choline is important in pregnancy. I also make a conscientious effort to include the best sources of vegan choline in my daily diet. However, it has come to my attention that choline bitartrate can raise TMAO levels, and so I’m wondering if I should use a different type of choline during pregnancy.
Consumerlab.com independently reviewed several brands of choline, and one that they recommend, Perque choline citrate, does not raise TMAO levels. I wrote to the company, and they said, “Our choline citrate is 60% choline and 40% citrate. The choline is derived from either flax seed or sesame seed. The citrate is mostly from agave, sometimes from the fermentation of glucose to citrate, or from pomegranate. We recommend during pregnancy to take 1-2 teaspoons of Choline Citrate a day.”
I’ve read that flax seed and agave are both potentially dangerous during pregnancy, so I wrote to them to ask about that. They responded with, “Choline Citrate is safe to take during pregnancy and is one of our recommendations on our pregnancy protocol that we supply to our health practitioners. However, if you are concerned, please check with your physician.”
Do you know which types of choline are safest? Trying to decide if I should stay on the choline bitartrate, switch to the Perque, or switch to some other brand?
Hi Tammy, I haven’t heard that choline citrate doesn’t raise TMAO levels– but TBH, the research on that is still new/mixed conclusions on whether it’s specifically harmful. For now, our stance is that we believe there is enough evidence to warrent supplementation (or enough dietary intake) of choline during pregnancy and breastfeeding specifically. The average population likely doesn’t need choline supplements. The flaxseed should be fine.
Thank you so much!
Which type of choline is good for autism and in what does ?
Hi Judith, choline is found in some plant foods, but the best source is soy foods. The best source is found in eggs.
My 5 mo son’s formula removes choline in their stage 2 (6-10 mo) version and stage 1 is out of stock basically everywhere. How should I go about getting enough choline into his system at 6 months?
Hi Alex, when you start to introduce solids, you can focus on choline rich foods.