Choline
Of 5,451 on-market choline products in the January 2026 DSLD dump, the median declared dose is 50 mg, and 89.1% list Choline Bitartrate as the primary form.
Form share
Of 5,269 products with an identifiable primary form, here is the share held by each form of Choline on the market today.
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| Form | Quality tier | n | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choline Bitartrate | Tier 2 | 4,695 | 89.1% |
| Phosphatidylcholine | Tier 1 | 469 | 8.9% |
| Choline Citrate | Unrated | 105 | 2.0% |
Form share over time
Entry-year breakdown of the top forms, 2012–2025.
Dose distribution
Deciles of declared dose per serving (mg), among 4,795 products with a disclosed amount, against the RDA of 550 and UL of 3500.
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- 67.8% of products fall below the fairy-dust threshold (96 mg, 20% of the studied low dose).
- 11.6% of products don't disclose an amount because Choline is declared inside a proprietary blend.
Where does your dose rank?
Enter a per-serving dose (mg) to see exactly how it compares to the 4,794 on-market choline products with a disclosed amount. The chart above groups doses into deciles; this looks up the exact percentile for one number.
By dosage form
By target group
Top brands
Search interest over time
How often people search for choline on Google, US only, the last 5 years. This is public interest, not DSLD label data — a spike here doesn't necessarily line up with anything on this page, and Google's own index (100 = that term's peak popularity in the chosen window) is relative, not an absolute search-volume count.
Or see this search directly on trends.google.com.
Forms explained
Elemental fraction: 41.1% (choline cation MW 104.17 / choline bitartrate MW 253.25 (both confirmed PubChem formulas))
The most common, cheapest commercial salt form, but a head-to-head RCT found natural phosphatidylcholine (egg yolk) produced roughly 4x greater plasma choline absorption than choline bitartrate.
Source: Smolders L et al. 2019, Nutrients 11(11):2758, PMID 31766273
Same RCT found phospholipid-bound (natural) choline significantly more bioavailable than the synthetic bitartrate salt in humans.
Source: Smolders L et al. 2019, PMID 31766273
No comparative bioavailability study of choline citrate specifically was found; no tier is assigned.
Reference values
- RDA (adult): 550 mg — Adequate Intake, no RDA established: 550mg (men); 425mg (women), ages 19+. IOM did not issue a full RDA due to limited data; some individuals may synthesize adequate amounts endogenously via PEMT.
- Tolerable Upper Intake Level (adult): 3500 mg — Based on hypotensive effects, fishy body odor, and other adverse effects at high intake
- Studied clinical dose range: 480–930 mg
- Caudill MA et al. 2018, FASEB J 32(4):2172-2180, PMID 29217669 -- randomized double-blind controlled trial, infants of mothers given 930mg/day (vs 480mg/day) choline from the third trimester to delivery had faster mean reaction time (information processing speed) at 4, 7, 10 and 13 months (n=26; 13 per arm). A separate 7-year follow-up (Bahnfleth CL et al. 2022, FASEB J 36(1):e22054, PMID 34962672; n=20) found better sustained attention in the 930mg/day group.
- Note: Choline is an essential nutrient with an IOM Adequate Intake but is technically NOT classified as a vitamin by IOM -- category set to "other" rather than "vitamin" for this reason. Lecithin (a related food-source phosphatidylcholine carrier) is treated separately as an excipient/other-ingredient concept, not aliased to this compound.