Science stacks up for Kyowa's citicoline supplement

The study used Kyowa's Citicoline (brand name Cognizin) and found significant increases in the brain's energy sources of 16 healthy men taking the supplement for six weeks.

The results were presented recently at the Society for Neuroscience 37th annual meeting in San Diego.

"This study looked at the effect of Citicoline or CDP-Choline (brand name Cognizin) on the brain's energy sources," said researcher Perry Renshaw M.D., Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School.

"As we age, the brain's efficiency diminishes.

Caffeine affects the whole brain, but Cognizin delivers nutrients to only the regions of the brain that sustain your ability to pay attention, make good decisions, and provide a sense of direction enabling you to get work done."

Citicoline is sold as a dietary supplement ingredient in North America.

Under structure/function claims allowed under DSHEA, research currently supports its use "for improvement of memory and general cognitive function."

The new study provides the science to back up such claims, after it was found that self-administration of either 500 mg or 2,000 mg of the ingredient led to significant increases in the brain's energy sources regardless of dose.

The researchers found increases in the levels of nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) in the anterior cingulated portion of the brain, "primarily reflecting levels of ATP, and phosphocreatine, reflecting the high energy phosphate buffer stores," wrote the authors in their abstract.

"These data demonstrate that Citicoline-related alterations in brain neurochemistry are regionally specific and suggest that oral Citicoline administration improves cellular bioenergetics of the anterior cingulate cortex," wrote the researcher.

"These findings have important implications, given that maintenance of phosphocreatine and beta NTP levels have been shown to be neuroprotective."

Brain health The link between nutrition and cognitive function is an area that has been largely overlooked in the past.

But recent studies looking at the potential protective role of foods like pomegranate and berries, green tea, and fish against cognitive impairment and the on-set of Alzheimer's disease shows that this is slowly changing.

The opportunities appear to come from two approaches - improving the energy delivered to the brain (metabolism behind brain energy slows down during ageing and Alzheimer development) and improving the overall nutritional profile of the person (traditional ingredients, phytonutrients, bioactive lipids, pre- and probiotics) to slow down the functional decline of the brain.

Source: Society for Neuroscience 37th annual meeting Session 301, November 3-7, 2007, San Diego, CA.

"Oral Citicoline supplementation significantly alters phosphorus metabolites in the anterior cingulate cortex" Authors: M.M. Silveri, J. Dikan, A.J. Ross, J.E. Jensen, T. Kamiya, Y. Kawada, P.F. Renshaw, D.A. Yurgelun-Todd