Table 1 Existing studies evaluating choline in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Study | Supplementation type and dose | Age range and duration | N | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Wozniak et al. 2013 [29] | Choline bitartrate; 513 mg choline vs. placebo per day | 2 to 5 years old; 9-month duration | 10 choline; 9 placebo | Feasibility and tolerability: dose taken on 87% of days with no difference between choline and placebo; fishy odor occurred in 56% (choline) vs. 0% (placebo) |
Wozniak et al. 2015* [30] | Choline bitartrate; 513 mg choline vs. placebo per day | 2 to 5 years old; 9-month duration | 31 choline; 20 placebo | Efficacy: no choline effect for global cognition; Significant choline effect for delayed sequential memory in 2–3-year-olds compared to 4–5-year-olds |
Kable et al. 2015 [31] | 750 mg choline + multi-vitamin vs. multi-vitamin vs. standard care per day | Prenatal; from first prenatal clinic visit through delivery | 37 choline; 50 multi-vitamin; 87 multi-vitamin + treatment; 81 standard care | Efficacy: significant choline effect for cardiac orienting response as a measure of visual attention/memory encoding |
Coles et al. 2015 [32] | 750 mg choline+multi-vitamin vs. multi-vitamin vs. standard care per day | Prenatal; from first prenatal clinic visit through delivery | 95 choline + multi-vitamin; 96 multi-vitamin; 176 standard care | Efficacy: no choline effect for global measure of infant cognition and motor skill. |
Nguyen et al. 2016 [33] | Glycerophospho-choline; 625 mg choline per day | 5 to 10 years old; 6-week duration | 29 choline; 26 placebo | Efficacy: no significant choline effect for measures of paired-associate learning, fluency, working memory, attention, or fine motor speed |
Jacobson et al. 2018 [34] | Choline bitartrate; 2000 mg choline vs. placebo per day | Prenatal; varied duration, < 23 weeks delivery | 34 choline; 35 placebo | Feasibility and tolerability: minimal side effects consisting of increased nausea/dyspepsia in the choline group vs. placebo. |
Jacobson et al. 2018 [34] | Choline bitartrate; 2000 mg choline vs. placebo per day | Prenatal; varied duration, < 23 weeks delivery | 34 choline; 35 placebo | Efficacy: significant choline effect for eye-blink conditioning and visual recognition memory |
Sarkar et al. 2019 [35] | Choline bitartrate; 500 mg choline vs. placebo per day | 2.6 to 5 years; 9-month duration | Varies | Decreased methylation of hPER2 and hPOMC genes and increased expression of hPER2 and hPOMC genes. |