Feeling Anxious? You Might Be Missing This Essential Nutrient
I’ve covered mental health research for years, both in an academic setting and now at mindbodygreen. And one theme keeps coming up: Anxiety is rarely just “in your head.” There are psychological roots, yes, but there are also biological ones we’re finally beginning to understand deeper.
And sometimes the most powerful contributors are as simple as your daily nutrient intake.
A new meta-analysis1 published in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that low levels of one essential nutrient, choline, may be a measurable biological marker of anxiety. And yet, roughly 90% of Americans fall short on their daily intake.
Brain imaging reveals lower choline in people with anxiety
To understand the relationship between anxiety and brain chemistry, researchers conducted the first-ever meta-analysis of magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies in anxiety disorders. This is a brain-imaging method that can detect specific neurometabolites, basically, tiny chemical clues that reflect how well different parts of the brain are functioning.
Across 25 datasets and over 700 participants, the findings were surprisingly consistent:
- People with anxiety had ~8% lower choline-containing compounds in their brains.
- The reduction was especially strong in the prefrontal cortex, the region responsible for emotional regulation, focus, and executive control.
- The pattern held across generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder, meaning this wasn’t disorder-specific, but a shared biological feature.
- Other metabolites barely budged. Choline was the standout.
So why does choline matter so much?
Choline is essential for a calm, focused brain
- It helps your body make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that supports memory, focus, and, yes, calm.
- It’s required to build the phospholipids that make up your brain and nerve cell membranes.
- It acts as a methyl donor, supporting methylation pathways involved in mood regulation.
The study offers an interesting theory about what's happening here. When you live with chronic anxiety, your brain exists in a constant state of heightened arousal, which increases its metabolic demands. To keep up with that stress, your brain burns through choline faster.
If you're not eating enough choline-rich foods to match that demand (and most people aren't), your brain's choline levels can gradually drop. Why does that matter? Because choline is essential for neuroplasticity, emotional regulation, and communication between brain regions.
How to support healthy choline levels
Choline is widely available in everyday foods, and your body absorbs it well, especially alongside healthy fats. Some of the richest sources include:
- Egg yolks
- Organ meats
- Salmon
- Chicken and turkey
- Soybeans and tofu
- Milk and dairy products
- Beef
- Cruciferous vegetables
The study also highlights that your brain brings in choline more efficiently when it’s packaged in omega-3–rich phospholipids, like the ones naturally found in fatty fish. So pairing salmon or sardines with leafy greens, or adding an omega-3 supplement, may give your brain an even bigger boost.
The takeaway
This study doesn’t claim choline is the cause of anxiety, but it does suggest low brain choline may be a shared biological signature across anxiety disorders, and that chronic anxiety may deplete choline faster than most people can replace it through diet.
Sometimes the smallest dietary shifts, like an extra egg yolk or a few servings of salmon each week, can give your brain the support it needs.