Choline for Hair: Benefits, Best Food Sources & Why Most People Fall Short

Choline is one of the most underrated nutrients in the modern diet. It's essential for building every cell membrane in your body, including the rapidly dividing cells in your hair follicles, and most people don't get as much as they should.

Here's what choline does, what the hair research shows, and the easiest ways to get more of it.

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Key Takeaways

• Choline was officially recognized as an essential nutrient in 1998. It's needed for cell structure, cell signaling and brain chemistry.
• Average choline intakes for men, women and children fall well below the recommended adequate intake.
• Eggs and meat are the richest sources, with up to 430 mg per 100 g.
• In a nine-month trial in women with fine hair, a choline-stabilized silicon supplement helped hair keep its strength and increased hair thickness.

What Is Choline?

Choline is a nutrient your body uses to build cell membranes and to make the messenger chemical acetylcholine. How much each person needs varies with their genes.

How Does Choline Support Hair?

Choline's best-known role is structural: it's a key part of the phospholipids that make up cell membranes. Hair follicles are some of the busiest cell factories in the body, so a steady supply of membrane building blocks supports their normal work.

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Simple Ways To Add More Choline

• Start the day with eggs. They're one of the most concentrated choline sources.
• Include a portion of meat, fish or poultry at main meals.
• If you eat a mostly plant-based diet, plan your sources deliberately, since the richest ones are animal foods.
• Consider a hair supplement that includes choline alongside other key nutrients.

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Is Choline Safe?

Choline from food is safe for almost everyone. If you're considering high-dose choline supplements, check the dose against official guidance and talk to your doctor, especially if you're pregnant or have liver disease.

What The Research Shows

Choline And Hair Strength: The Silicon Connection

The most direct hair research involving choline comes from choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (ch-OSA), a form of silicon kept stable with choline. In a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 48 women with fine hair took 10 mg of silicon a day as ch-OSA, or a placebo, for nine months (Wickett et al., 2007).

• Hair in the placebo group lost about 11% of its strength at breaking point. Hair in the ch-OSA group kept almost all of its strength.
• Hair thickness (cross-sectional area) increased significantly in the ch-OSA group, but not in the placebo group.

The researchers attribute these effects mainly to silicon, with choline acting as the stabilizer. Still, it's an encouraging sign for choline-containing hair formulas.

Eggs: A Hair-Friendly Package

A 2023 review of eggs and hair highlighted eggs as one of the most cost-effective ways to get protein, biotin, choline and vitamin A together, all nutrients associated with healthy hair (Jung & Kwon, 2023).

Are You Getting Enough, And Where To Find It

Probably not. In North America, average intakes for older children, men, women and pregnant women are all well below the adequate intake set by the Institute of Medicine. Eggs and meats are the richest sources in the North American diet, providing up to 430 mg per 100 g (Zeisel & da Costa, 2009). Choline is found in a wide variety of other foods too, so building meals around eggs, meat, fish and dairy, plus legumes and vegetables, is an easy way to raise your intake.

See also: Silica for Hair: What the Research Shows · Bamboo Extract for Hair: What the Research Shows

Frequently Asked Questions

Does choline help hair growth?

Choline supports the cell building blocks that growing follicles rely on. The strongest hair evidence comes from a choline-stabilized silicon supplement, which helped hair keep its strength and increased hair thickness in women with fine hair.

What foods are high in choline?

Eggs and meat are the richest sources, with up to 430 mg per 100 g.

Can low choline cause hair loss?

There are no studies directly linking low choline to hair loss. But because most people fall short of the recommended intake, making sure you get enough is a sensible part of a hair-healthy diet.

References

1. Wickett RR, Kossmann E, Barel A, et al. Effect of oral intake of choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid on hair tensile strength and morphology in women with fine hair. Arch Dermatol Res. 2007. PubMed
2. Jung J, Kwon KH. Rethinking of positive effects of eggs on hair in East Asia. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2023. PubMed
3. Zeisel SH, da Costa KA. Choline: an essential nutrient for public health. Nutr Rev. 2009. PubMed