Lecithin

Food · Pantry & Condiment · Food, Typed Supps

It is the ingredient that stops oil and water separating — sold in a tub as though it were a breakfast cereal.

Stage by stage

Intake (Stirred into food): Granules disperse into whatever fat and water phase they are added to.
Digestion (Emulsification): The amphiphilic phospholipids stabilise fat droplets, the same job bile salts perform.
Absorption (Phospholipid uptake): Pancreatic phospholipase cleaves it; the products are absorbed and re-esterified in the gut wall.
Choline pool (Membranes and neurotransmitters): The choline component feeds membrane phosphatidylcholine, acetylcholine and one-carbon metabolism.

Time to effect

Weeks to months: Any claimed benefit would operate over weeks to months, and the supporting trials are weak.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.

Cost band

Mid — roughly £5 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine)
Polyunsaturated fat

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 626
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrate: 4.9g
of which sugars: 4.4g
Fat: 62.4g
of which saturated: 14.5g
Fibre: 15.1g
Sodium: 11mg

Food vs. supplement

This is the unusual case where the food is the supplement. As a choline source it is beaten comfortably by eggs and liver, which deliver more per serving in a form nobody has to blend. As an emulsifier in home cooking it is genuinely useful. As a memory or cholesterol treatment, the trial evidence does not support it.

Kitchen tip

It hydrates poorly in cold liquid and clumps. Blend it into the fat phase first, or leave the granules to stand in the liquid for a few minutes before mixing, which is also why it works better in a smoothie than stirred into a cold glass of water.

Common myth

"Soy lecithin is a harmful additive that damages the gut lining." In reality: The emulsifier research that alarm rests on tested polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose. Lecithin is a phospholipid mixture closely related to what bile and cell membranes are already made of, and was not the compound studied.