Abstract
Lecithin is being administered in large doses to patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and other disorders involving impaired CNS cholinergic activity with the goal of stimulating the synthesis and release of acetylcholine. However, there are many questions concerning the biochemical effects of lecithin that still have to be examined. Three questions involving lecithin treatment are addressed in this report: 1) Are there any similarities between the effects of lecithin on blood choline levels in rats and human subjects? 2) What are the effects of chronic versus acute treatment with lecithin on the concentrations of choline and acetylcholine? 3) Does lecithin have significant biochemical effects on metabolic processes besides those involving choline utilization? None of these questions can be answered adequately at this time, but recent results, described in this chapter, should help to formulate further research projects aimed at obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the metabolic effects of the administration of large doses of lecithin.