Lecithin supplement benefit side effects and dosage by Ray Sahelian, M.D.

Lecithin is known as phosphatidylcholine, although lecithin is also a term loosely applied to describe a combination of phosphatidylcholine with other phospholipids. Most people normally ingest 3 to 6 grams of lecithin a day through eggs, soy, and meats. Vegetables, fruits and grains contain very little lecithin. Phosphatidylcholine is the most abundant phospholipid component in all cells. Phosphatidylcholine levels in brain cell membranes decline with age, perhaps contributing to memory loss. If you would like to purchase lecithin see phosphatidylcholine.

Lecithin is made of phosphorus containing lipids called phospholipids. Hundreds of different phospholipid molecules have been identified, but the major types are the phosphatidyl-phospholipids. They consist of two fatty acids groups that are connected through a glycerol backbone to a phosphate ester group.

Lecithin versus phosphatidylcholine
Lecithin and phosphatidylcholine are not the same thing. Lecithin includes a group of fatty substances such as phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol, along with glycolipids and triglycerides.

Lecithin side effects, safety, caution, danger
Cases J. 2009.
Idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia due to lecithin overdose: a case report. Diabetes Center, Tzanion General Hospital, Piraeus Greece.
Idiopathic Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia is a potentially fatal condition which requires prompt and potent treatment. Diagnosis of idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia requires both serologic evidence of autoantibody presence and hemolysis. Although most of the times it is considered idiopathic, several underlying causes have been identified, like autoimmune and connective tissue diseases, viral infections, drugs or hyper function of the immune system. To our knowledge, this is the first case in the international literature describing lecithin-induced autoimmune hemolytic anemia. This case report is to highlight a rare but dangerous adverse reaction to overdose of lecithin. A 38 year old white female from Greece, presented to our emergency room with progressive fatigue over a period of ten days and icteric discoloration of her skin and conjunctiva. The patient had been taking lecithin supplements (1200 mg, 3 capsules a day) over a period of ten days for weight loss. She reports that the last 3 days, prior to the examination, she took 5 capsules/day, so that the supplement would take effect more rapidly. Her past medical, social and family history showed no disturbance. Relatives of the patient were requested to submit any blood-tests taken over a period of 20 days prior to the onset of symptoms caused by Lecithin. All tests proved that all functions were within normal scale. Her physical examination revealed pallor and jaundice without palpable hepatosplenomegaly. Blood biochemistry tests showed total bilirubin 7.5 mg/dl, with indirect bilirubin 6.4 mg/dl and complete blood count showed hemoglobin 7.6 g/dl with blood levels 21%. In every case of idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia the administration of pharmaceutical substances should always be examined, except for the standard reasons that cause it. In this case the cause of hemolysis was attributed to the excessive intake of lecithin capsules for the loss of body weight. It is important that clinicians and immunologists are aware of this adverse effect.

Questions
Q. I have taken Lipitor ever since it was put on the market. I just quit taking it several weeks ago and went to my neighborhood Health Food store. The owner suggested two tablespoons of Lecithin a day to help/keep my cholesterol in check. Please tell me what you think of this as a way to help keep my cholesterol in check.
   A. Please see cholesterol my thoughts on this matter. I prefer the options I have mentioned over lecithin, but each nutrition expert has their own opinion.

I would like info on Lecithin, I'm told it's a good supplement to take. I have read from Alternative Doctors, lecithin washes the plaque in one's arteries-Is this true?
    I have not come across such studies.

I have been supplementing with relatively large doses of lecithin (with varying composition of phoshpatidyl-serine, choline, etc.), but always at east 10 g per day. I found that at single 1200mg lecithin doses, it would prevent acne breakouts at times I knew they would happen (the appearance of a whitehead is too late). I noticed this because I was 16 years old at the time I began taking lecithin religiously, and prone to acne at the time. It is now 18 years later, and I am now 34 years old. I have since completed an honours thesis on neurotransmitter regulation, particularly the effects between the synapsin phosphoproteins and synaptic vesicles, and CamKII. That was 16 years ago. In the intervening 18 years since I began the aggressive supplementation regime, however, I have had *profound* improvements to my memory that can only be explained as moving from high-average memory to by many definitions eidetic. What I notice most is that information I do not consciously try to pay attention to I remember much easier than before (for example, looking up a 10-digit number, dialing it once, and remembering it for an extended period without trying to remember it. I also notice an immediate drop in memory (giving me that "tip of the tongue" feeling quite readily noticeably) after only a single day of missing supplementation; however, it takes at least a week for my nearly-eidetic memory to return to normal after resuming. Now that I am a PhD student, I am intimately familiar with research theory and design, as well as statistics, and I believe one of the reasons for the less-than-compelling findings are that there have been no longitudinal studies, such as my life. Very few studies have managed to follow the lecithin supplementers for the 18 years that I have been taking it. The resumption of above-average memory after resuming lecithin takes weeks to re-establish, even after a wash-out period of only a single day. And it was a very slight gradual continuous improvement over the past 18 years; much too small to notice in a multi-week study. I also suspect that lecithin may have profound effects on memory, such as with me, and very little effect with others, yielding equivocal results that there is no overall improvement. My father, a physician for over 30 years, had begun taking lecithin daily, albeit only at a 1200mg per day dose, and he has remarked similar memory effects, though not the improvement to nearly-eidetic memory in my case. I would like to be involved in formal research in lecithin in the future; however, as I have switched fields and am now pursuing my PhD in Finance, no longer have access to a laboratory or the funding for it. Yet if there are groups already interested in pursuing this research, I would gladly lend my skills as a methodologist (I have acted as a peer reviewer); further, I believe the more rigorous introduction to research theory and design in the social sciences, where not all situations are so easy to control for and not all spurious relationships can be easily identified, I believe my statistical and experimental/quasi-experimental design methodological knowledge is stronger than most natural scientists.
    We appreciate learning about your interesting observations and self-experiments.

Just wanted to know about lecithin, does it contain small or large amts of phospholipids or does phospholipids constitute small amts in lecithin. if you really want to to concentrate on phospholipids then you would naturally take cdp choline and other more specific supplements, is that not correct?
   Lecithin is a good source of phospholipids but it is a good idea to add fish oil in order to have the best omega-3 fatty acids for optimal brain function.