SciScoop || SciScoop - Exploring Tomorrow

SciScoop || SciScoop - Exploring Tomorrow: "That we will eventually use our burgeoning knowledge of genetics to create a new generation of super-intelligent humans is most likely a foregone conclusion. But researchers at Duke University may have already found a much simpler method to create superbabies. According to their news release, providing supplements of the important nutrient choline to animals in utero 'super-charged' their brains, making their neurons larger and faster at firing electrical 'signals' that release memory-forming chemicals. Choline is a naturally occurring nutrient found in egg yolks, milk, nuts, fish, liver and other meats as well as in human breast milk. It is the essential building block for the memory-forming brain chemical acetylcholine and it plays a vital role in the formation of cell membranes throughout the body. The implications of this study for humans are profound because the collective data on choline suggests that simply augmenting the diets of pregnant women with this one nutrient could affect their children's lifelong learning and memory. In theory, choline could boost cognitive function, diminish age-related memory decline, and reduce the brain's vulnerability toxic insults."