What is GPC?
GPC or GlyceroPhosphoCholine (pronounced gli-sero fos fo-kolean) is a nutrient with many different roles in human health. It reaches extremely high concentrations within our cells, and its abundance in mother's milk suggests it is crucial to life processes.
Clinically, GPC has been most intensively researched for its brain benefits. Biologically, it has great importance for the skeletal "voluntary" muscles, the autonomic nervous system, kidneys, liver, and reproductive organs. GPC goes beyond being a brain nutrient-it is a nutrient for vitality and long life.
Marked Benefits to the Brain
As a dietary supplement, GPC's brain benefits are unique. It boosts mental performance in healthy young people, as shown by three double-blind trials. In trials on middle aged subjects, GPC improved several physiologic measures of mental performance: reaction time, visual evoked potential, and EEG delta slow waves.
In the elderly, GPC improves mental performance and provides noticeable revitalization. In 11 human trials with 1,799 patients, memory, attention, and other cognitive measures improved. So did mood (including irritability and emotional lability), and patients often developed renewed interest in relatives and friends. GPC was well tolerated, and generated no bad drug interactions. A large trial on elderly subjects with memory challenges published in 2003 concluded GPC had significant benefits for these individuals.
GPC Supports Normal Brain Function
Circulatory deprivation or surgery can challenge healthy brain function. GPC can speed recovery and support improved quality of life. In four trials with GPC on 2,804 subjects who experienced difficulties under these circumstances, up to 95% showed good or excellent improvement. GPC consistently improved space-time orientation, degree of consciousness, language, motor capacity, and overall quality of life. The investigators concluded GPC offered marked benefits, with an excellent benefit-to-risk profile.
Up to half of patients who survive bypass surgery experience problems with memory and other mental performance. A double-blind trial conducted with bypass survivors for six months determined that the GPC group had no remaining memory deterioration, while the placebo group failed to improve.
GPC Works Through Multiple Mechanisms
GPC supports human health through a variety of mechanisms:
1. It helps keep choline and acetylcholine available to the tissues. Choline is an essential nutrient and GPC appears to be the body's main choline reservoir. GPC in mother's milk represents the baby's main source of dietary choline.
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an important substance employed extensively throughout the body. ACh is a major brain transmitter; the motor nerves use ACh to drive the skeletal ("voluntary") muscles; the autonomic nervous system uses it to pace all the organs. ACh is also central to mental and physical endurance, and mind-body coordination.
2. GPC is a major cell-level protectant, not as another antioxidant but in pivotal roles of osmotic pressure regulator and metabolic antitoxin. GPC for osmotic regulation can reach very high concentrations in the kidney, bladder, liver, brain, and other organs. As metabolic protectant, GPC shields proteins against urea buildup.
3. GPC is a major reservoir for cell membrane omega-3 phospholipids. These substances are the major building blocks for cell membranes. Enzymes couple GPC with the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, to make the phospholipid PCDHA. This makes membranes especially fluid, enabling membrane proteins to perform with better efficiency.
GPC produces PC-DHA in the skeletal muscles, wherein fluidity is essential for contraction. Muscles that function abnormally can show GPC deficiency.
4. GPC contributes to both male and female reproduction. As spermatozoa mature, GPC is used to make PC-DHA that makes their membranes fluid to enable motility. With men, the lower their semen GPC the greater the likelihood of poor sperm motility and with it, infertility.
Once semen is inserted into the female, an enzyme in uterine secretions breaks down the semen's GPC into substances that energize the sperm to achieve fertilization.
Dosing, Safety, Tolerability, Compatibility
Oral intake of GPC in the clinical trials was usually 1,200 milligrams (mg) per day, taken early in the day on an empty stomach. A reasonable dietary supplementation regimen is 1200 mg/day, taken in divided doses and between meals for 15-30 days, and thereafter 600 mg/day for maintenance. Symptomatic subjects can take 1200 mg/day until adequate improvement is achieved. Young, healthy subjects may experience benefit from daily intakes as low as 300 milligrams.
GPC is very safe, being compatible with vitamins and nutrients and with pharmaceuticals. In clinical trial comparisons, GPC's benefits surpassed the nutrients acetylcarnitine and CDP-choline.
GPC: Nutrient for All Ages
GPC is unmatched for its support of active living and healthy aging. In some 23 clinical trials GPC improved mental performance in all functional categories. GPC can revitalize the aging brain, facilitating growth hormone (GH) release and boosting nerve growth factor actions.
GPC's ample presence in human mother's milk suggests it could be conditionally essential. By supporting mental integrity, mind-body integration, the autonomic system, and the body's other organs, GPC enhances the active lifestyle. GPC is remarkable nutritional support for optimal health at any age.
Parnetti L, Amenta F, Gallai V. Choline alfoscerate in cognitive decline and in acute cerebrovascular disease: an analysis of published clinical data. Mechs Ageing Dev 2001;22:2041.
This paper has reviewed the documentation on the clinical efficacy of choline alphoscerate, a cholinergic precursor, considered as a centrally acting parasympathomimetic drug in dementia disorders and in acute cerebrovascular disease.
Thirteen published clinical trials, examining intotal 4054 patients, have evaluated the use of choline alphoscerate invarious forms of dementia disorders of degenerative, vascular or combinedorigin, such as senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT) or vascular dementia (VaD) and in acute cerebrovascular diseases, such as transitory ischemic attack (TIA) and stroke. Analysis has assessed the design of each study, in particular with respect to experimental design, number of cases, duration of treatment and tests used to evaluate drug clinical efficacy. Most of the ten studies performed in dementia disorders were controlled trials versus a reference drug or placebo.
Overall, 1570 patients were assessed in these studies, 854 of which in controlled trials. As detected by validated and appropriate tests, such as Mini Mental State Evaluation (MMSE) in SDAT and Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric (SCAG) in VaD, administration of choline alphoscerate significantly improved patient clinical condition.
Clinical results obtained with choline alphoscerate were superior or equivalent to those observed in control groups under active treatment and superior to the results observed in placebo groups. Analysis stresses the clear internal consistency of clinical data gathered by different experimental situations on the drug effect, especially with regard to the cognitive symptoms (memory, attention) characterizing the clinical picture of adult onset dementia disorders.
The therapeutic usefulness of choline alphoscerate in relieving cognitive symptoms of chronic cerebral deterioration differentiates this drug from cholinergic precursors used in the past, such as choline and lecithin. Three uncontrolled trials were performed with choline alphoscerate in acute cerebrovascular stroke and TIA, totaling 2484 patients. The results of these trials suggest that this drug might favor functional recovery of patients with cerebral stroke and should be confirmed in future investigations aimed at establish the efficacy of the drug in achieving functional recovery of patients with acute cerebrovascular disease.
Improve your memory with the right brain nutrients
By Annika L Rockwell, CN
featured in the Sunpost newspaper 9/22/05
No matter how smart you are, you most likely wish your memory, cognition, and mental alertness were better. A great brain is beautiful and sexy. Nutritional science has made impressive discoveries on nutrients which can make a significant difference in your memory and mental performance. In order to reach your maximum brain potential, a healthy lifestyle approach is the key: the right foods, exercise, and taking nutrients such as GlyceroPhosphoCholine (GPC).
Let’s face it; your memory isn’t as good as it once was and your aging brain shows no mercy under stress when you need to remember that client’s name or a critical phone number. Studies do confirm that mental decline is common with age, even as early as age 29. Even worse, with each decade of life, our memory will continue to decline. But, this is not necessarily part of the natural aging process. We are not all destined for dementia or Alzheimer’s.
There are several factors causing our accelerated mental decline. Our stressful lives are filled with fast food which is devoid of nutritional value. Further, the blood vessels which supply oxygen to the brain get clogged up from junky trans fats and toxins, reducing the brain's oxygen and nutrient supply.
In addition, stress and alcohol kill brain cells, and we have no shortage of either. Our sedentary jobs often expose us to chemicals or fumes which further damage brain cells, and statistics show few of us get regular exercise or fresh air. Another common cause of accelerated mental decline is side effects from medications such as cholesterol lowering drugs (statins) which have now been shown to cause memory loss. (Graveline MD, Lipitor: Thief of Memory). Living in today’s world causes our brains to age more rapidly than normal.
Is there any hope beyond all this depressing news? Yes! Protecting your brain cells is not as difficult as you might think. One way is by doing your best to avoid exposure to drugs and toxins, eating a diet rich in omega 3s such as salmon, and keeping oxygen circulation to the brain optimal with regular exercise. In addition, you can protect and significantly improve your mental performance with the right brain nutrients such as GlyceroPhosphoCholine or GPC.
Over the years, the most popular memory nutrients have been B-12, Carnitine, Phosphatidyl Serine (PS), and DHA. But, exciting new research shows that a new nutrient named GlyceroPhosphoCholine, sold as GPC Insta-Gel is even more powerful than all the others. It is the most remarkable brain nutrient I have ever run across in my 11 years studying nutritional medicine.
GPC is an orthomolecule found in breast milk and other cells in the body, and acts as fuel feeding the most energetically needy cells of our body such as the brain and sperm cells. There are hundreds of clinical studies proving its benefits for the elderly, middle aged, and healthy young adults. The improvements are so significant that they are making headline news for patients of Alzheimer’s, stroke, and dementia.
The benefits of GCP Insta-Gel include significantly improved:
- Memory
- Attention
- Reasoning
- Recovery after brain injury
- Mood
- Sociability
- Protection against toxin caused mental decline
Also impressive is GPC’s ability to improve the baseline mental performance, attention, word recall, and working memory in healthy young adults. This means that even if your memory is pretty good right now, it could be even better with GPC!
Most remarkable is that GPC offers tremendous benefit for those who are trying to recover from brain injury, undergoing heart bypass surgery (which affects oxygen to the brain), taking statin drugs and want to prevent memory side effects, and have Alzheimer’s or dementia. I recommend my clients take 1,200 mg of GPC Insta-Gel which is the most absorbable form. It comes in little tubes which are squeezed directly into the mouth and taste like honey. Be sure to take it before 4pm each day or you may not be able to sleep.
Maintaining and improving your mental performance is the smartest thing you can do. I recommend that all my clients concerned with protecting their brain cells and improving their memory focus on their lifestyle including a nutrient dense diet, stress reduction, and exercise. I also recommend taking 1,200 mg of GPC Insta-Gel daily to both protect and enhance the brain’s potential. The results are often apparent within minutes. Take care of your brain, and it will take care of you!
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