Can you take too much lecithin

The body uses lecithin in the metabolic process and to move fats. Lecithins turn into choline in the body. They help make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Lecithin is commonly used as a food additive to emulsify foods.

Many people know lecithin as the oily film on their frying pan when they use a nonstick cooking spray. Lecithin is used to treat dementia and Alzheimer disease. It's also used to treat gallbladder disease.

These higher levels are usually from supplementing with lecithin and would be almost impossible to reach when consuming a normal diet or from using food products that have been treated with lecithin. On the other hand, some people may experience loss of appetite and sudden weight loss. Less commonly, some people may experience a sudden drop in blood pressure if they take too much lecithin. A drop in blood pressure can be experienced as dizziness , sudden mental confusion, or actual fainting.

This side effect is usually associated with very high lecithin intake or it may occur in someone whose blood pressure is already quite low. Do you know the soy lecithin side effects whenever you consume it as an ingredient in your food? Find out what these effects are and how to avoid them.

Take a look at a few labels the next time you go grocery shopping; soy lecithin is almost in everything. So why is it bad? Soy lecithin is an ingredient used in processed foods such as:. It is also commonly found in health supplements, too. Other soy lecithin benefits may include lowering blood pressure, improving cholesterol levels, and helping with stress-related disorders.

Soy lecithin is used so commonly in our food supply because it acts as an emulsifier. An emulsifier is used to make oil and water mix when they otherwise would not, and it helps stabilize and keep the ingredients from separating later.

It also prevents food from becoming sticky. Using a chemical solvent, manufacturers take soybean oil from raw soybeans. This soy oil is then mixed with water until the lecithin portion of the oil separates. This lecithin portion is dried, and sometimes even undergoes a final processing step of being bleached with hydrogen peroxide. The exact composition of soy lecithin varies slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but lecithin itself is made up of soybean oil and phosphatidylcholine, a type of phospholipid or fat.

Lecithin is the general name for fatty compounds extracted from animal or plant sources. Soy is just one of the sources for lecithin. Back then, egg lecithin was the go-to option. Today, it is isolated from soybeans, cottonseed, rapeseed, and sunflower. Researchers have discovered that soybean lecithin can contribute to raising HDL good cholesterol and lowering LDL bad cholesterol in blood profiles.

Soy protein provides an extra boost for people using it to treat cholesterol because of other components that soy offers. This is according to a small study in which participants were given soy products including lecithin additives.

Since soy is complicated to digest, it takes your body longer to break soy products down. For some people, this works to make them feel more full after consuming it. Some breastfeeding experts recommend lecithin as a solution for preventing recurrent plugged ducts. The Canadian Breastfeeding Foundation recommends a dose of 1, milligrams, four times per day, to experience this benefit. They speculate that lecithin may decrease the viscosity of your breast milk, making it less likely to clog milk ducts in your breast.

Lecithin has been tested in people with ulcerative colitis to improve their digestion. Lecithin contains choline, which is a chemical your brain uses to communicate. Lecithin is in the ingredients of some skin care products. In most of these products, the kind of lecithin used is called hydrogenated lecithin.

People with egg and soy allergies need to be especially careful to find out where the lecithin in their supplements comes from, to avoid allergic reactions.

Lecithin can be found in a lot of the products that you may already eat, like eggs and animal products. Supplements, however, are not monitored for quality by the U.