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Phospholipid Classes: PhosphatidylSerine (PS)GlyceroPhosphoCholine (GPC) |
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Chemical Structure of GlyceroPhosphoCholine (GPC) |
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GlyceroPhosphoCholine (GPC) is a pro-phospholipid substance, lacking any fatty acid “tails” as found on typical phospholipid molecules. A normal constituent of living cells, GPC is a nutrient orthomolecule. It is readily absorbed by mouth and is a major metabolic precursor for PhosphatidylCholine (PC), the most common phospholipid of the nerve cell membranes. GPC is also the most bioavailable source of the essential nutrient choline. It is a major source of choline in human mother's milk.
GPC improves mental performance, as proven from a number of controlled clinical trials. It benefits young as well as aging subjects. Thus GPC significantly benefited immediate recall and attention in a group of young adult males (ages 19-38) as compared against a control group given placebo. In middle-aged subjects it benefited reaction time, improved energy generation and electrical coordination within the brain, and protected against the cognitive damage which can result from surgery. For older subjects with brain damage, double-blind trials demonstrated that GPC had superior benefits over certain other brain nutrients for mental focus, recall, verbal fluency, and overall enhancement of mental performance.
As we humans reach middle age we become less able to produce optimal quantities of key hormones from the pituitary, the body's “master gland.” In studies which involved both young and aging males, GPC successfully enhanced the responsiveness of the pituitary to hormone releasing stimuli. In addition to its partial revitalization of the pituitary, GPC significantly benefited subjects with sever impairment of memory and other cognitive functions. Emotional state, confusion, apathy, and interpersonal interactions also were improved. The diverse, sophisticated functions of the brain are built on coordination between the billions of nerve cells.
The cells membranes generate and carry an electrical signal across the cell, and chemical transmitters carry the electrical impulse in a specified direction from one cell to the next. GPC is a natural building block for nerve cell membranes, being the most ready source for synthesis of PC. It is also a normal metabolic precursor of the key transmitter acetylcholine (ACh). GPC is therefore vital both to the individual nerve cells AND to their electrical integration via ACh transmitter action. This dual bioactivity of GPC in the brain could account for its impressive spectrum of clinical benefits. GPC improves EEG (ElectroEncephaloGraphic) performance, a good measure of brain integration, in healthy young subjects. |
