E1001 - Choline salt

Choline is an essential nutrient — the body makes some, but not enough — and it is needed to build cell membranes and to make acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that carries signals to muscle. Its salts and esters (bitartrate, chloride, citrate) are the forms used in supplements and in infant formula.

The number E 1001 appears in some international listings, where the salts were treated as emulsifiers. In Great Britain choline is handled as a nutrient, not as a food additive: it is added for nutritional purpose, under the rules for vitamins and minerals added to food and for infant formula composition, not under the additives regulation.

Infant formula (where choline is a compositional requirement), food supplements, and some fortified foods. Dietary choline comes mostly from eggs, liver, beef, fish, soya and cruciferous vegetables.

E 1001 does not appear in the FSA Register of Food Additive Authorisations. That is a statement about the number, not a restriction on the substance: choline is lawfully added to foods and supplements in Great Britain under nutrition rules rather than additive rules.

Because it is not regulated as an additive, no additive ADI applies. The relevant reference values are nutritional, and we cover them on our choline page.

One practical note that is well established: very high supplemental doses can produce a fishy body odour, because gut bacteria convert excess choline to trimethylamine.

• FSA Register of Food Additive Authorisations
• FSA/DHSC: Approved additives and E numbers