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Imagine yourself gliding along the coast of Cape Cod in your handcrafted sailboat when suddenly you spring a leak, and then another and another. Now imagine the boat is your body and those leaks are popping up in the cells of your most vital organs, causing liver failure, heart disease and an impaired nervous system. To salvage your "boat" you'd want something a little stronger than the duct tape Gilligan hands you. Similarly, to patch up those blemishes in your cell walls, you'd want the equivalent of physiological superglue. Lecithin--a supplement you've probably never heard of--is exactly that.

"Lecithin's significance to the active man cannot be overstated," says Jim Wright, Ph.D., former chief of the exercise science branch of the U.S. Army Fitness School. "It can make a big difference--subtly and over the long term--in your physical appearance and overall health by helping your liver and immune system and aiding in the digestion of fats."

Lecithin, a.k.a. phosphatidytcholine, is a naturally occurring phospholipid that inhabits the cell membranes in your body and helps determine what enters and leaves your cells. What makes lecithin so crucial is that every cell in your body needs it. Lecithin also contains choline, an essential nutrient that your body requires but doesn't produce in adequate amounts, therefore making its consumption a must. If you skimp on choline, you're opening up yourself up to all kinds of problems (see Reason #6, page 107).

You can get lecithin--and subsequently choline--through food. The richest sources of it include egg yolks, organ meats such as beef liver (not on everyone's plate of agreeable comestibles) and processed foods. However, processed foods pose a big problem. Since lecithin's emulsifying properties prevent separation of ingredients, processed foods containing lecithin are generally loaded with fat. Hence, supplementing with lecithin is the ideal way to go, since you get the benefits without the lard. Here are nine good reasons to add lecithin to your current supplement plan.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:10 AM