Emerging treatments: replacement therapy with choline or lecithin in neurological diseases

This review evaluates the theoretical background and experimental data behind a new development: the replacement therapy of deficient central cholinergic systems with the dietary precursors choline or lecithin. Cholinergic deficiency states are possibly present in five neurological entities: Huntington's chorea, Tardive Dyskinesia, Gilles de la Tourette's disease, Friedreich's ataxia and pre-senile dementia. Preliminary data from various laboratories, including our own, in each of these disorders indicate that some clinical improvement can occasionally be seen, and that this approach deserves further investigation.