In 1998, the National Academy of Sciences, USA, issued a report identifying choline as a required nutrient for humans and recommended daily intake amounts.
Eggs are an excellent dietary source of choline.
Pregnancy and lactation are periods when maternal reserves of choline are depleted. At the same time, the availability of choline for normal development of the brain is critical. The mother's dietary choline during a critical period in brain development of her infant influences the rate of birth and death of nerve cells in this center. These changes are so important that we can pick out the groups of animals whose mothers had extra choline even when these animals are elderly. Thus, memory function in the aged rat is, in part, determined by what the mother ate.