Table 2.
Summary of postnatal choline supplementation studies.
| Publication | Participants (n, Age, Diagnosis) | Choline (Dose, Duration, Form) | Design | Outcome Measures (Cognitive, Behavioral) |
Main Findings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wozniak et al. (2013) [162] |
n= 20 2.5–4.9 years old with PAE |
500 mg choline or placebo 9 months Choline bitartrate |
Phase 1 pilot study Double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial |
Feasibility, adverse effects, tolerability, serum choline levels | Minimal adverse events in choline group, other than a fishy body odor Choline supplementation is feasible and highly tolerable. |
| Wozniak et al. (2015) [163] |
n= 60 2.5–5 years old with PAE |
513 mg choline or placebo 9 months Choline bitartrate |
Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. | IQ, elicited imitation (EI) task (i.e., sequential memory) | Improved sequential memory in younger participants (i.e., 2–3 years) who received choline |
| Nguyen et al. (2016) [168] |
n= 55 5–10 years old with heavy PAE |
29 children had 625 mg choline and 26 children had placebo 6 weeks Glycerophosphocholine |
Multisite study Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial |
Memory, executive functioning, attention and hyperactivity | No effects of choline |
| Wozniak et al. (2020) [167] |
n= 31; 4 year follow-up after completion of prior Choline study [163] M = 8.6 years old with PAE |
Participants had previously received 513 mg of choline 9 months Choline bitartrate |
4-year follow-up of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial | IQ, memory, executive functioning, behavioral and emotional functioning | Choline group: improvements in non-verbal intelligence, visual-spatial skills, working memory, verbal memory, and ADHD symptoms |
| Smith et al. (2021) [166] | 52 children 2–5 years old with an FASD |
Children had previously received 500 mg of choline or placebo 9 months Choline bitartrate |
Current study was a retrospective analysis utilizing data from the randomized, double-blind trial | Genotyped participants for 384 choline-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Memory and cognition |
14-16 SNPs within the SLC44A1 gene largely associated with improved performance on the EI task |
CBCL Child Behavior Checklist, EI Elicited Imitation, PAE Prenatal Alcohol Exposure.