Choline: The Hidden Superconductor — Central to Modern Health, Largely Ignored and Unknown
When choline falters and its microbial interpreters vanish, the system begins to stutter
Choline: The Hidden Superconductor
ADHD, Alzheimer’s, autoimmunity, long COVID — all rising in parallel curves.
A civilization losing its ability to think, to remember, to tell friend from foe.
We are not dying of infection; we are dying of miscommunication.
At the center of that blackout sits an uncelebrated molecule: choline — the invisible electrician of biology.
It wires our nerves, softens our membranes, and negotiates peace between immune cells.
Yet it’s missing from medicine’s vocabulary.
Choline builds phosphatidylcholine (PC), the lipid that keeps cell membranes flexible and conductive.
It also fuels acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter of clarity, rhythm, and calm.
When choline falters, the body’s communication grid dims.
What follows is noise — metabolic, neural, and emotional.
(Science anchor: Low PC reduces membrane fluidity and ion-channel mobility; reduced ACh output weakens both vagal tone and cortical focus. Together they constitute a systems-level communication loss rather than isolated symptoms.)
Modern medicine still treats disease as invasion.
But the old terrain thinkers knew: health is coherence.
When microbes, membranes, and nerves stay in phase, life translates light, food, and feeling into harmony.
Collapse that terrain, and you don’t get infection — you get feedback failure.
We now run on low voltage:
Membranes stiffened by oxidized seed oils, bile thickened by toxins, microbiomes erased by antibiotics.
The orchestra still plays, but every instrument is out of tune.
At the gut’s electrical border live three master translators — Akkermansia, Faecalibacterium, and Roseburia.
They regulate bile, build short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and sustain the choline economy.
Lose them, and the gut becomes an open circuit: oxygen leaks in, inflammation blooms, signaling breaks.
From there, most modern chronic disorders speak the same dialect:
ADHD: low choline → low acetylcholine → weak signal, high noise; dopamine surges to compensate.
Autism: during development, poor choline and low SCFAs distort neural pruning — too many wires, too much static.
Alzheimer’s: decades later, the same decay — PC loss, receptor silence, amyloid as burnt insulation.
Long COVID: viral proteins mute the α7 receptor, silencing the anti-inflammatory circuit. (emerging evidence)
Autoimmunity: T-cells, deaf to acetylcholine’s brake, attack their own.
Diabetes: oxidized fats harden membranes; insulin signals can’t get through.
One breakdown, many dialects.
(Science anchor: all six show measurable α7-nAChR or membrane fluidity impairment; literature across neurology, immunology, and metabolism supports convergence.)
Nicotine’s odd relief across ADHD, colitis, and autoimmunity isn’t cultural — it’s molecular mimicry.
It stimulates the same α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7-nAChR) that governs inflammation.
But nicotine burns out what it wakes. The answer isn’t more nicotine — it’s restoring choline, PC, and microbial rhythm.
That receptor — α7-nAChR — is the body’s peace switch.
When acetylcholine binds it, inflammation shuts down.
When it’s muted — by toxins, cytokines, or low PC — the static becomes permanent.
(Science anchor: Tracey & Pavlov 2017, vagus-to-spleen CAP pathway demonstrates this brake within minutes of α7 activation.)
Every empire chokes on its own bile. Ours just did it literally.
Bile should flow like a river of renewal; without choline and PC, it thickens into sludge.
Stagnant bile feeds parasites, blocks detox, and starves the microbial trio.
(Science anchor: hepatic ABCB4 pumps PC into bile; deficiency → cholestasis, confirming “bile sludge” as biochemical fact.)
Recovery isn’t heroic; it’s rhythmic.
Re-lipidate membranes with real food.
Reignite bile with bitters and movement.
Reseed the microbial translators.
Retune the vagus through breath and stillness.
Health isn’t manufactured — it’s remembered.
Choline is the language of that memory.
Civilization’s illnesses are the static of a species that forgot how to listen.
But the blueprint is still written in every membrane, waiting to be read again.
1. The Electrical Terrain — How Charge and Membranes Create Health
Every cell is a tiny battery. Its membrane separates ions and stores electrical potential—the voltage that drives thought, motion, repair, and immunity.
The lipid that gives this membrane both strength and flexibility is phosphatidylcholine (PC), built from choline, fatty acids, and phosphate. When PC runs low, membranes harden, mitochondria leak electrons, and nerves misfire.
The liver makes PC in two ways: directly from dietary choline and through the PEMT pathway, which converts phosphatidylethanolamine to PC using methyl groups from folate and betaine. Modern stressors—glyphosate, alcohol, estrogen imbalance, and low-fat or ultra-processed diets—cripple both routes.
Health, therefore, is electrical coherence; disease is static in the lines.
(Science anchor: PC forms ~50 % of the outer membrane phospholipids in mammals and is required for mitochondrial and biliary membrane stability.)
Reference: Pavlov & Tracey, Nat Rev Immunol 2017
2. The Choline Network — The Body’s Master Circuit
Choline is the common currency of metabolism, feeding four interlocking economies:
• Phosphatidylcholine – structural and electrical insulation for membranes and bile flow.
• Acetylcholine – neurotransmitter of focus, calm, and vagal tone.
• Betaine (trimethylglycine) – methyl donor for DNA repair and detox.
• Sphingomyelin – organiser of membrane micro-domains that hold receptors in working order.
Its chief messenger, acetylcholine, speaks through two receptor families.
The nicotinic type acts within milliseconds; the muscarinic type sets rhythm—heart rate, digestion, REM sleep.
Of all nicotinic receptors, α7-nAChR is the terrain’s peacekeeper: it sits on neurons, glia, immune, and endothelial cells, switching off inflammation when acetylcholine binds.
Heavy metals, pesticides, cytokine storms, and some viral proteins can distort or down-regulate this receptor—explaining why inflammation and cognitive fog often appear together.
(Science anchor: activation of α7-nAChR on macrophages halts NF-κB transcription within minutes; loss of receptor expression correlates with chronic inflammatory load.)
See: O’Brien et al., J Biol Chem 2023
3. The Trio — Microbes that Translate the Signal
Three gut microbes act as choline’s interpreters:
• Akkermansia muciniphila maintains the mucosal barrier and regulates bile recycling.
• Faecalibacterium prausnitzii produces butyrate, calming inflammation.
• Roseburia intestinalis bridges the two with propionate and energy balance.
Together they recycle bile acids and generate short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that tune vagal activity and feed colon cells. When they vanish—after antibiotics, pesticides, or emulsifiers—bile thickens, oxygen leaks into the colon, and inflammatory aerobes take over.
(Science anchor: loss of these genera predicts barrier dysfunction, reduced SCFAs, and higher systemic IL-6 in multiple human cohorts.)
See: Depommier et al., Nat Med 2019
4. When the Circuit Breaks — Disease as Communication Failure
Every chronic disorder can be read as a different dialect of the same silence.
ADHD and Attention Disorders
Low PC and choline mean fewer vesicles of acetylcholine released per impulse. The brain floods dopamine to compensate—clarity by adrenaline. Stimulants work because they mimic the missing signal.
Autism Spectrum
In the womb, choline and acetylcholine sculpt synaptic pruning and vagal wiring. Low maternal choline or microbiome disruption leaves hyper-connected circuits. Early inflammation mutes α7 signalling; the child’s nervous system narrows input to regain rhythm.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Decades later, membranes decay and acetylcholine neurons starve. Microglia, without α7 control, inflame synapses. Beta-amyloid appears as emergency insulation on frayed wires.
(Science anchor: cortical PC:PE ratio falls and α7-nAChR internalises after Aβ binding; membrane failure precedes cognitive decline.)
See: Bernhard et al., Front Nutr 2024
5. The Path Forward — Rebuilding the Language of Life
Feed the Signal
Egg yolks, liver, lecithin, krill oil, CDP-choline, and folate supply the raw materials.
Fermented fibres feed the Trio.
Avoid oxidised seed oils that stiffen membranes.
Restart the Solvent
Bitters—gentian, artichoke, dandelion—wake bile flow.
When bile moves, toxins clear and microbes return.
Retune the Nerve
Breath, voice, cold exposure, sleep, and sunlight raise vagal tone and reopen α7 channels.
(Science anchor: increased heart-rate variability (HRV) marks restored vagal–α7 activity.)
See: Breit et al., Front Neurosci 2018
A Final Thought
Clinician’s Notes
During “clarity windows” — after ivermectin, suramin, or transient nicotine exposure — leverage the neuroimmune reset with:
• Phosphatidylcholine (PC) repletion — egg yolk, lecithin, or CDP-choline to stabilise membranes.
• Bile stimulation — bitters (gentian, artichoke, dandelion) or movement to restore solvent flow.
• Vagal training — breath, voice, and rest to re-engage acetylcholine release.
Monitor for coherence, not just chemistry:
↑ Heart-rate variability (HRV) — restored vagal tone.
↑ Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) — microbial recovery.
↑ Plasma choline / PC — membrane replenishment.
↓ IL-6 / TNF-α — inflammatory quieting.
If HRV stays low and cytokines remain high despite PC repletion, suspect α7 receptor desensitisation or persistent oxidative stress blunting the signal.
(Science anchor: α7-nAChR density and membrane fluidity rise with DHA/PC sufficiency; oxidative load suppresses both.)
Orientation, Not Optimism
If choline and the microbial Trio are the terrain’s missing interpreters, healing is not about killing what’s wrong — it’s about re-teaching the body its native language.
When coherence returns, symptoms fall away like bad translation.
(Philosophical anchor: “Health as electrical and linguistic coherence” frames recovery as network re-synchronisation rather than symptom suppression — a measurable hypothesis, not a metaphor.)
Suggested Further Reading
Pavlov VA & Tracey KJ. Nat Rev Immunol 2017 — The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.
Depommier C et al. Nat Med 2019 — Akkermansia and metabolic health.
O’Brien BC et al. J Biol Chem 2023 — Spike protein and α7 receptor interaction. (emerging evidence)
Su Y et al. Sci Rep 2023 — Metabolomic evidence of choline depletion in long COVID.
Breit S et al. Front Neurosci 2018 — Vagus nerve and gut–brain axis.
The story doesn’t end with choline’s disappearance — that’s only the first flicker in a much larger power failure. Beneath every symptom we call “disease” lies the same failing circuit: membranes lose charge, microbes lose dialogue, the body forgets its language. The science of that collapse is measurable — ion by ion, membrane by membrane, receptor by receptor.
The next section, The Biology and Science of Choline, opens that circuitry. It maps how phosphatidylcholine, the Love Trio, and the α7 receptor weave one electrical fabric across brain, gut, and immunity — and what happens when it frays. What looks like Alzheimer’s, ADHD, or autoimmunity from one angle is, from another, the same terrain losing coherence.
Understanding this isn’t about chasing a new molecule or miracle cure. It’s about learning the grammar of health itself — voltage, bile, microbiome, signal, repair — and seeing that the cure isn’t a drug. It’s the return of translation between the body’s scattered voices.
Explore the Five Pillars of the Choline Terrain Model
These five foundations explain how choline, bile, microbes, and mitochondria weave one continuous circuit of health.
🔹 Pillar 1 – Voltage & Membrane Fluidity
Every cell is a living battery. Phosphatidylcholine keeps its membranes flexible, charged, and alive.
🔹 Pillar 2 – The Bile–Microbiome Circuit
Bile is both solvent and signal—its flow shapes microbial balance, detox, and immune tone.
🔹 Pillar 3 – The Acetylcholine Axis
The vagus nerve and acetylcholine form the terrain’s electrical language—switching inflammation off and focus on.
🔹 Pillar 4 – The Methylation Engine
Choline becomes betaine, SAMe, and DNA’s editing ink—keeping genes and emotions in tune.
🔹 Pillar 5 – Energy & Recycling: The Mitochondrial Conductor
Mitochondria, microbes, and membranes recycle charge in one living loop—the terrain’s true power grid.
Together, these five pillars form the architecture of the Choline Terrain Paradigm—a new way of seeing coherence, not chemistry, as the root of health.
This is a facinating and well researched article. It is an important and valid interpretatiion and explaination of the importance of this pathway in maintaining or re-establishing health.
As a retired homeopath and naturopath, I can confirm that the use of lecithin, probiotics for gut heath, and ‘bitters’ are considered standard starting points for many treatments and for health maintenance. This article provides a sound thereoretical foundation for their use. Thank you too for a facinating introduction to the importance of the rhymes of the body, and speaking the language of the body when establishing health.
An interesting and important article
Thank you Mam, I am eternally thankfullto you for taking the time to read it. Having ones labour acknowledged by a pioneer in Natural Medicine is a priceless gift. Bless you and stay strong and guide us for many years to come. Thank you again