Health & Nutrition

The French chemist and pharmacist Theodore Nicolas Gobley was the first person to describe lecithin in 1847. He extracted pure phosphatidylcholine from egg yoke but lecithin is the generic term used to describe the group of yellow-brown fats found in the tissues of plants and animals.

Lecithin is used as a food additive, being officially recognized as safe by both the European Union (under reference E322) and the United States Food and Drug Administration. It has many uses including helping the flow of chocolate, breaking down and dispersing the fat in ice cream (so giving a creamier texture), breaking down and reducing fats in a non-stick cooking spray, controlling sugar crystallization, and stabilizing fermentation.

It has many uses in non-food products as well. The chemical and pharmaceutical industries use lecithin to help emulsification and an antioxidant. It is used as an anti-sludge additive for motor oils and enriches protein and fat in animal feed. In the paint industry lecithin has many uses including helping mixing and spreading, eliminating foam in water-based paints, forming a protective surface and intensifying colours.

How The Human Body Benefits

To improve the cholesterol levels in the body, the bad LDL cholesterol needs to be reduced and the good HDL cholesterol increased. This lecithin does very well. It is not clear why this happens but the results are clear. Other advantages have been found in choline, one of the constituents of lecithin.

In a 1949 British study, CH Best and his team discovered a reduction in choline lead to an increase of arterial damage and hypertension as a result of droplets of fat forming on the arterial walls. A supplement of choline was also found to reduce fatalities in patients who had previously suffered a coronary thrombosis.

There was an erroneous theory that lecithin enters and breaks down the adipose tissue or fat cells. In fact what the substance does is reduces blood and dietary fats into smaller molecules. These then form fatty acids, which the body will tend to use as energy rather than store it uselessly in the adipose tissue.

The liver benefits most from lecithin. During their studies, Best et al discovered that cirrhosis of the liver tends to be a result of nutritional deficiency and not simply chronic alcoholism. Their research showed the condition occurred where there was a combination of excess alcohol and some dietary deficiency. The abnormality did not appear where there was a lot of alcohol but a choline supplement was taken. It was concluded that the choline removed any excess fat.

Choline can also be used to combat gallstones. The purpose of the gall bladder is to secret bile, which then emulsifies fats. To do this it contains cholesterol, bile acids and lecithin. It is the lecithin, which emulsifies the fats and probably controls the damaging effects of the acids. Where there is a reduced level of lecithin the patient is likely to suffer gallstones.

Other studies have shown that lecithin improves male sexual performance (the male ejaculate contains lecithin) and the brains operation. The substance has been used to treat dementia.

Conclusion

There can be side effects to the consumption of lecithin such as lowered blood pressure leading to dizziness and fainting but this only occurs when excess amounts are ingested. Moderation is key.

Lecithin is important to the human body and it is worth considering taking some as part of a natural dietary supplement if your levels are reduced, such as if you do not eat enough eggs.