Anxiety can interfere with a person\u2019s life, but what does it do to a person\u2019s brain?<\/p>\n
A recent meta-analysis of studies found choline \u2014 an essential nutrient \u2014 was 8% lower in the brains of people with social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder compared to people without those mental health conditions.<\/p>\n
That might not sound like much, but it\u2019s an unusually large deficit, says Dr. Richard Maddock, senior author of the study<\/a> and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UC Davis Health.<\/p>\n He has treated patients with anxiety and studies chemical abnormalities in people with psychiatric disorders.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is among the largest abnormalities I’ve seen,\u201d Maddock tells TODAY.com.<\/p>\n \u201cThe brain runs a tight ship. It doesn’t usually let things get too out of balance. So that’s a sizable change.\u201d<\/p>\n Maddock became intrigued by the phenomenon while using MRI scanners to measure the concentration of important molecules in the brain in living patients. He kept noticing choline levels tended to be low in the anxious patients.<\/p>\n The question is: Do low levels of choline actually promote anxiety, or are they a red flag that someone is experiencing it? The answer is unclear, Maddock says. One possibility is that people with anxiety disorders use up more choline, so their levels in the brain drop.<\/p>\n Previous studies also suggest not getting enough choline may make a person a little more prone to anxiety or perhaps less capable of regulating it, he notes.<\/p>\n Almost one-third of U.S. adults, 31%, will experience an anxiety disorder at some time in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n It’s the most common mental illness in the U.S., marked by persistent anxiety that can interfere with daily life, the Anxiety & Depression Association of America<\/a> notes.<\/p>\n What Is Choline?<\/p>\n Choline is an essential nutrient the body needs, but doesn’t make enough of on its own, so it needs to come from the diet, says Lisa Young, Ph.D., a registered dietitian and adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University.<\/p>\n Researchers have called it the \u201cunderconsumed and underappreciated<\/a>\u201d essential nutrient.<\/p>\n