The European Food Safety Authority has recognized choline as an important nutrient and set guidelines for how much we should eat to stay healthy.
The nutrient is particularly useful for pregnant women because it is important for the development of the central nervous system of a baby in the womb.
It is vital for the brain, spinal cord and even cognition, the ability to learn.
Higher intakes of choline during the second three months of pregnancy have also been shown to be associated with better visual memory skills in children at the age of seven.
The new European Food Safety Authority Adequate Intake (AI) level is for 400mg of choline daily. With an average medium size egg providing 144mg of choline, a two-egg meal would provide around two-thirds of the AI for an adult. A single egg provides almost all – 90 per cent – of the AI for a baby aged seven to 11 months, and more than 100 per cent of the AI for a toddler.
There has not been a previous EU recommendation for choline because it had been assumed that we can make enough choline or get enough of it in our diet, but emerging research has confirmed its importance.
The details have emerged ahead of British Egg Week, which is due to begin on October 10 and is designed to boost both consumption and sales.
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