NOW Lecithin 1200 mg Softgels Review: Soy and Sunflower Listings Compared Label by Label

Lecithin is one of the supplements that most people buy on the strength of a vague sense that it is good for the brain and the liver. The bottle says "supports brain and nerve function," the label gives a number in milligrams, and the word "choline" appears somewhere on the page. What is missing from most conversations is the arithmetic: how much actual choline the softgels supply, what the research says about the claims on the front, and whether the three or four similar-looking NOW bottles on Amazon are interchangeable. They are not entirely interchangeable, and this review lays out why.

The basic science of lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, and choline is covered in HonestLifter's lecithin and choline guide, so this article does not repeat it. This is a product review. It covers which NOW softgel listings exist, what each one states, where they differ, how the label compares with the intake numbers and the research, what each costs per serving, and how the follow-up checkpoints will work.

What You Are Buying: Three Listings

NOW sells three relevant Amazon listings. The table below is built from each listing's supplement facts panel, directions, and ingredient statement. The listings are the NOW Lecithin 1200 mg softgels in the 200-count size (B0013OSNEC), the NOW Sunflower Lecithin softgels in the 200-count size (B003BHZ71G), and the NOW Lecithin 1200 mg softgels in the 100-count size (B000MGOXUA). Labels can change between production runs, so check the bottle you receive.

The listings also make standard structure-and-function claims, such as "supports brain and nerve function" on the soy listings and "nervous system support" on both, each followed by the usual statement that the claims have not been evaluated by the FDA and the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Those are marketing statements permitted for dietary supplements. They are not clinical findings, and we deal with the actual research below.

A Note on the Sunflower Listing

One data quality note on the sunflower listing. The page's title field and its address slug name an unrelated personal care product, while the brand line (NOW Foods Store), the feature bullets, the supplement facts, and the description all describe NOW Sunflower Lecithin. That is a catalog error on Amazon's side, and it is the reason we rely on the facts panel and not the page title for this listing.

Soy Versus Sunflower: What Actually Differs

The three listings are one brand's lecithin softgels, so it is tempting to treat them as the same thing in different bottles. They are the same concept, but the label facts diverge in four ways.

Source and allergen profile. The two soy listings state the lecithin is non-GMO soy and the carrier oil is non-GMO soybean oil, and their allergen statement lists what the product is not made with (yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, milk, egg, fish, shellfish, sesame) and leaves soy off the list, as you would expect. The sunflower listing is described in its bullets as soy-free and non-GMO, uses olive oil as the carrier, and its allergen statement adds soy to the list of ingredients not used. For anyone who avoids soy, this is the difference that decides which bottle is acceptable.

Serving size. The soy listings use a serving of 3 softgels, delivering 3,600 mg of lecithin. The sunflower listing uses a serving of 2 softgels, delivering 2,400 mg. Because every softgel is described as a 1200 mg product, a comparison per softgel is straightforward. A direct serving comparison is not, because the manufacturer defines the serving differently.

Phosphatidyl choline content. On a per-softgel basis, the soy softgel carries about 167 mg of phosphatidyl choline (500 mg across 3 softgels) and the sunflower softgel carries 180 mg (360 mg across 2 softgels). In other words, 13.9 percent of the soy lecithin weight is listed as phosphatidyl choline, and 15.0 percent of the sunflower lecithin weight. The sunflower softgel is richer by about 8 percent per softgel. That is a small difference and well within the natural variation of plant extracts, but it is not nothing, and it runs against the intuition that soy is the higher-choline source.

Directions. The soy listings say to take 3 softgels daily, with no mention of food. The sunflower listing says to take 2 softgels daily with food. Neither listing explains the reason for its instruction. Taking fat-soluble or oil-based supplements with a meal is a common convention and it can reduce stomach upset for some people, but the listing does not say that.

Two things are the same across all three: the capsule shell is bovine gelatin, which means none of these softgels is suitable for a vegetarian or vegan; and the manufacturer, NOW, which says on every listing that its products are made and tested in the USA with globally sourced ingredients. In short, if the question is "are the soy and sunflower listings different enough to say so?", the answer is yes, for allergens, for serving size, for the carrier oil, and slightly for phosphatidyl choline per softgel. If the question is "do they differ materially in how much of the active ingredient a softgel delivers?", the answer is a modest yes (about 8 percent), and not a large one.

From 1200 mg of Lecithin to Milligrams of Choline

"1200 mg" on the front of the bottle is the weight of lecithin, a mixture of phospholipids and other compounds, in a softgel. It is not 1,200 mg of choline, and it is not 1,200 mg of phosphatidyl choline. The step from lecithin to choline has two stages, and both shrink the number.

The first step is already printed on the label. Of the 3,600 mg of soy lecithin in a three-softgel serving, the label lists 500 mg as phosphatidyl choline. Of the 2,400 mg of sunflower lecithin in a two-softgel serving, it lists 360 mg. The second step is not on the label. Choline is only part of the phosphatidylcholine molecule, with the rest being glycerol and two fatty acids. The usual approximation, which the HonestLifter lecithin guide also uses, is that choline is roughly 13 percent of phosphatidylcholine by weight. The true figure depends on which fatty acids are attached, so treat it as an estimate and not a measurement. At 13 percent:

The reference values come from the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, which lists the adequate intake (AI) for choline at 550 mg per day for men aged 19 and over and 425 mg per day for women, with a tolerable upper intake level of 3,500 mg per day for adults. The fact sheet notes that the AIs were set on the basis of preventing liver damage, as measured by serum alanine aminotransferase, because there was not enough data to establish an estimated average requirement.

Put those numbers next to actual intake. The same fact sheet reports that in the 2013-2014 NHANES analysis, the average daily choline intake from foods and beverages for adults is 402 mg in men and 278 mg in women, and that supplements contribute a very small amount to total choline intake. A separate analysis of NHANES 2009-2012 data by Wallace and Fulgoni (2016) found that only 10.8 percent of participants aged 2 and older, and 6.6 percent of adults aged 19 and older, reached the adequate intake from food. Subtracting the averages from the AIs gives rough gaps of about 148 mg for men and 147 mg for women (our arithmetic, using ODS figures). A serving of the soy softgels, at around 65 mg, would cover less than half of that average gap, and a serving of the sunflower softgels, at about 47 mg, about a third.

Food closes the gap faster. The ODS table lists a large hard-boiled egg at 147 mg of choline, which is roughly what two and a quarter servings of the soy softgels would supply by our estimate. The point is not that eggs are better than softgels. It is that a lecithin softgel is a modest source, and that anyone buying it for choline should know the order of magnitude: tens of milligrams per serving, not hundreds. If your goal is specifically to raise choline intake, the HonestLifter guide discusses other forms. This review focuses on what this product contains.

What the Research Shows

Intake: the gap is real

The one claim here that stands on firm ground is that many people do not reach the adequate intake for choline. The Wallace and Fulgoni analysis used the National Cancer Institute method on NHANES 2009-2012 data from 16,809 participants, and by their numbers 15.6 percent of males and 6.1 percent of females met the AI from food. Keep the interpretation sober: the AI is a benchmark set because there was not enough data to establish an average requirement, so falling short of it is not the same thing as being deficient, and the study is about food intake, not about whether supplements change any health outcome.

Cognition: no clear benefit in the trials

The listing says "supports brain and nerve function." The best evidence on lecithin and cognition is a Cochrane review by Higgins and Flicker (2003), which looked for randomized trials comparing lecithin with placebo in people with dementia or cognitive impairment. It found 12 randomized trials, involving 265 patients with Alzheimer's disease, 21 with Parkinsonian dementia, and 90 with subjective memory problems. No trial reported a clear clinical benefit of lecithin in Alzheimer's disease or Parkinsonian dementia. A dramatic result in favor of lecithin was reported in one trial of people with subjective memory problems, but only one, and the review's conclusion was that evidence from randomized trials does not support the use of lecithin in the treatment of dementia, while allowing that a moderate effect could not be ruled out.

That review is old and it concerns patients, not healthy adults, so it does not prove lecithin does nothing for a healthy person. What it does show is that the plausible mechanism, lecithin supplying choline for acetylcholine, did not translate into a demonstrated benefit in the trials that tested it. The claim on the label is a structure-and-function statement, and the trials do not turn it into a finding.

Exercise performance: choline salts did not help in the trials

Because choline is the precursor to acetylcholine, there has been interest in choline supplements for endurance. The verified trials are not encouraging, and none of them used lecithin. Spector and colleagues (1995) gave 2.43 g of choline bitartrate or placebo to 20 trained male cyclists in a double-blind crossover design. Serum choline rose by 37 and 52 percent in the two groups, the cyclists did not deplete choline during exercise in either condition, and fatigue times and work performed were similar in both. Warber and colleagues (2000) gave 14 volunteers 8.425 g of choline citrate before and midway through a 4-hour load-carriage treadmill session. Plasma choline rose 128 percent after the run to exhaustion in the supplemented condition and stayed unchanged with placebo, but no outcome performance measure differed significantly.

A review by Penry and Manore (2008) put the pieces together: most people consume adequate choline, only strenuous and prolonged exercise appears to lower circulating choline significantly, and oral choline might help endurance performance only in activities that push circulating levels below normal. For lifters, the takeaway is plain. The supplement salts used in those studies delivered grams of material per dose, while a serving of these softgels delivers an estimated tens of milligrams of choline. If large doses of a more concentrated choline source did not move performance, there is no reason to expect a lecithin softgel to.

Different forms, little comparison

The ODS fact sheet states that the choline forms in supplements include choline bitartrate, phosphatidylcholine, and lecithin, and that no studies have compared the relative bioavailability of choline from these different forms. Böckmann and colleagues (2022) compared four choline supplements, choline chloride, choline bitartrate, alpha-glycerophosphocholine, and egg-derived phosphatidylcholine, in six healthy men in a randomized crossover study, each dose supplying 550 mg of choline equivalent. They found no difference in the area under the curve of plasma choline between the forms, though the time course differed, with phosphatidylcholine peaking latest, at about 3 hours. That is a tiny sample and a source of phosphatidylcholine (egg) that is not the soy or sunflower lecithin in these bottles, so it is a data point and not a conclusion.

The TMAO Question

The one piece of research that gives people pause about phosphatidylcholine is the work on trimethylamine-N-oxide, or TMAO. Wang and colleagues (2011) reported in Nature that three metabolites of dietary phosphatidylcholine, choline, TMAO, and betaine, predicted risk of cardiovascular disease in a large clinical cohort, and that in mice, dietary choline and TMAO promoted atherosclerosis in a way that depended on the gut microbiota. Tang and colleagues (2013) then published in the New England Journal of Medicine a study of 4,007 patients undergoing elective coronary angiography. After a phosphatidylcholine challenge (two hard-boiled eggs and deuterium-labeled phosphatidylcholine), TMAO rose over time and was strongly suppressed by antibiotics, showing that the gut microbiota produce it. Higher fasting TMAO was associated with a greater risk of major adverse cardiovascular events over 3 years, with a hazard ratio of 2.54 (95% confidence interval 1.96 to 3.28) for the highest versus lowest quartile.

It is easy to read too much into this. The cohort study shows an association between TMAO levels and events in people already undergoing angiography. It does not show that taking lecithin softgels causes cardiovascular disease, and the mouse experiments do not settle the human question. The ODS fact sheet summarizes the situation cautiously: choline consumption has been shown to increase TMAO production in a dose-dependent manner in adults, and TMAO has been linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but the fact sheet does not conclude that supplementation causes harm. In the small Böckmann crossover, the water-soluble choline supplements rapidly increased TMAO while the egg phosphatidylcholine did not, which hints that the form could matter, but that was six men and an egg-derived product.

A related line of research looks at lecithin as a dietary emulsifier. In a 2026 placebo-controlled trial, Wellens and colleagues put 60 healthy participants on an emulsifier-free diet for 2 weeks and then randomized them for 4 weeks to brownies containing one of several additives, including soy lecithin, or to a no-additive comparison. At the end, there were no differences in fecal calprotectin, C-reactive protein, serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, or cholesterol between placebo and the emulsifiers, although short-chain fatty acid concentrations were lower with emulsifier supplementation overall, and not every emulsifier reached significance. The abstract we read gives no lecithin dose, and a brownie is not a softgel, so this is context only.

The honest summary is that the TMAO question is open. For someone with a cardiovascular condition, this is a reason to ask a physician before adding any choline-containing supplement. For a healthy adult taking a label serving that supplies an estimated 47 to 65 mg of choline, which is small relative to the amounts discussed in the ODS fact sheet, it is a reason for moderation and not for alarm.

What It Costs Per Serving

Price per serving is the clearest way to compare the three listings, because the serving sizes and softgel counts differ. The arithmetic below uses the current listed prices, which move, so check the price on the day.

Several things stand out. The sunflower bottle costs the most per softgel of the two 200-count options, but its serving is only 2 softgels, so the cost per serving comes out close to the soy bottle's (about $0.15 versus $0.16). Per gram of phosphatidyl choline, which is the active component, the 200-count soy bottle is the cheapest at these prices, followed by the sunflower bottle. The 100-count soy bottle costs the most per softgel, per serving, and per gram of phosphatidyl choline, which is the usual penalty for a smaller size, so the small bottle is the cheapest way to try the product and not the cheapest way to own it.

Displayed prices on a listing can move around, and a single snapshot can mislead, so if you are buying for cost, check the price on the day, divide by softgels, and then multiply by the number your serving requires. If the soy and sunflower bottles are priced differently from the table, redo the math with the same steps.

Safety, Allergens, and Who Should Ask a Doctor First

Lecithin is widely consumed as a food additive, and the amount of choline in these softgels is far below the ODS upper limit of 3,500 mg per day. The ODS fact sheet lists the adverse effects of excessive choline as a fishy body odor, vomiting, excessive sweating and salivation, hypotension, and liver toxicity, at intakes in the range of the upper limit. A label serving here, at an estimated 47 to 65 mg of choline, is nowhere near that.

The practical safety points are more mundane:

• Soy. The two soy listings contain soy lecithin and soybean oil. Anyone with a soy allergy should avoid them. The sunflower listing is described as soy-free, but the label itself states that it is produced in a GMP facility that processes other ingredients containing allergens, so people with severe allergies should read the bottle and not rely on a product page.
• Gelatin. All three listings use bovine gelatin capsules, so none is vegetarian or vegan.
• Pregnancy, nursing, and medication. The manufacturer's label text advises adults only and says to consult a physician if pregnant or nursing, taking medication, or having a medical condition. We are repeating that instruction, not adding to it.
• Cardiovascular disease. Because of the TMAO research above, anyone with heart disease or elevated cardiovascular risk should discuss choline-containing supplements with a physician. This is a precaution and not a finding.
• Digestive tolerance. The listings do not mention side effects. Fat-based softgels at multiple per day can bother some stomachs, and the sunflower listing's with-food instruction is consistent with that, though the page does not say so.

Quality and Third-Party Testing

The listings make quality statements at the facility and process level. The soy listings say "GMP Quality Assured," state that NOW's manufacturing process has been examined by an A-rated third-party certification, and say the company's in-house laboratories are ISO/IEC accredited for testing including stability, potency, and formulation. The sunflower listing repeats the GMP statement and adds a line of "certifications/classifications": soy free, non-GMO, made without gluten, corn free, dairy free, egg free, and kosher. The label statements "non-GMO" for the soy lecithin and soybean oil appear in the ingredient panels of the soy listings.

These are meaningful signals about manufacturing practice, but they are different from a product-level certification. A program that tests individual finished products for contaminants or banned substances, such as a sport-specific certification, publishes lists of certified products. None of the three listings, as retrieved, shows a product-level third-party certification mark, and the sunflower listing's "certifications/classifications" line does not name a certifying body in the text we read. If you compete in tested sport, or you care about lot-level verification, ask the manufacturer for a certificate of analysis for your lot.

Who Should Buy It and Who Should Skip It

It makes sense if you want a cheap, mild source of phosphatidylcholine and a small contribution to your daily choline, you understand that a serving supplies tens of milligrams of choline and not hundreds, and you pick the listing that fits your allergen needs. For people who avoid soy, the sunflower listing is the one that states it is soy-free. For people who prefer fewer softgels per serving, the sunflower serving is 2 and the soy serving is 3.

Skip it, or look elsewhere, if you want a cognitive or performance effect, because the trials we verified do not support one; if you are vegetarian or vegan, because the capsules are bovine gelatin; if you have a soy allergy and are considering one of the soy bottles; or if your actual goal is to raise choline intake substantially, in which case a food-first approach, with eggs as the standout source, or a concentrated choline product, would address it more directly.

What Buyers Report

Buyer reviews on supplement retailer pages for the 1,200 mg softgels are dominated by size and smell.

• Size: The most common complaint is that the softgels are very large, and several say they struggle to swallow them. A few call the size manageable.
• Smell: Some buyers report a rancid or strong smell on opening the bottle.
• Tolerability: A few say it caused nausea, gas or stomach discomfort.
• Value: Positive reviews call the price fair and note that the 200-count bottle lasts a long time. Several say the ingredient list is simple.

Takeaway: buyers like the price and the count, and most criticism is about the large softgels and smell. Buyer reports are anecdotal and are not the same as the research above; they are not evidence about what a supplement does and not advice.

How HonestLifter Is Reviewing This Product

HonestLifter's editorial model is longitudinal. A one-time first-impressions post tells you very little about a supplement, so each product we review gets a written review built on the manufacturer's listing and published research at the start, followed by dated checkpoint updates at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months of use. Our own notes will be added as dated updates later, and any checkpoint update will say which bottle it refers to.

The Bottom Line

The three NOW lecithin listings covered here are two products, not one. The soy softgels (200-count B0013OSNEC and 100-count B000MGOXUA) are labeled at 3 softgels per serving with 3,600 mg of non-GMO soy lecithin and 500 mg of phosphatidyl choline in soybean oil. The sunflower softgels (B003BHZ71G) are labeled at 2 softgels per serving with 2,400 mg of sunflower lecithin and 360 mg of phosphatidyl choline in olive oil, taken with food. Per softgel the phosphatidyl choline is similar, about 167 mg for soy and 180 mg for sunflower, and the main practical differences are allergens, serving size, and price per serving.

By our estimate a label serving supplies about 47 to 65 mg of choline, a small share of the 425 to 550 mg adequate intake. The verified research supports the idea that many people fall short of that intake, but not the brain, nerve, or performance claims on the bottle, and the TMAO question is unresolved. Buy it if you want a cheap, low-dose top-up and you match the bottle to your allergen needs. Skip it if you expect an effect on cognition or training. Check the price on the day, ask for lot-level testing if it matters to you, talk to your doctor if you have a cardiovascular condition or take medication, and watch this page for our dated checkpoint updates.

References

1. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Choline: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals (updated June 2, 2022). ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Choline-HealthProfessional/.
2. Wallace, T.C., & Fulgoni, V.L. 3rd (2016). Assessment of total choline intakes in the United States. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 35(2), 108-112. doi:10.1080/07315724.2015.1080127. PMID 26886842.
3. Higgins, J.P., & Flicker, L. (2003). Lecithin for dementia and cognitive impairment. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (3), CD001015. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001015. PMID 12917896.
4. Spector, S.A., Jackman, M.R., Sabounjian, L.A., Sakkas, C., Landers, D.M., & Willis, W.T. (1995). Effect of choline supplementation on fatigue in trained cyclists. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 27(5), 668-673. PMID 7674870.
5. Warber, J.P., Patton, J.F., Tharion, W.J., Zeisel, S.H., Mello, R.P., Kemnitz, C.P., & Lieberman, H.R. (2000). The effects of choline supplementation on physical performance. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 10(2), 170-181. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.10.2.170. PMID 10861337.
6. Penry, J.T., & Manore, M.M. (2008). Choline: an important micronutrient for maximal endurance-exercise performance? International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 18(2), 191-203. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.18.2.191. PMID 18458362.
7. Bockmann, K.A., Franz, A.R., Minarski, M., Shunova, A., Maiwald, C.A., Schwarz, J., Gross, M., Poets, C.F., & Bernhard, W. (2022). Differential metabolism of choline supplements in adult volunteers. European Journal of Nutrition, 61(1), 219-230. doi:10.1007/s00394-021-02637-6. PMID 34287673.
8. Wang, Z., Klipfell, E., Bennett, B.J., Koeth, R., Levison, B.S., Dugar, B., et al. (2011). Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease. Nature, 472(7341), 57-63. doi:10.1038/nature09922. PMID 21475195.
9. Tang, W.H., Wang, Z., Levison, B.S., Koeth, R.A., Britt, E.B., Fu, X., Wu, Y., & Hazen, S.L. (2013). Intestinal microbial metabolism of phosphatidylcholine and cardiovascular risk. New England Journal of Medicine, 368(17), 1575-1584. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1109400. PMID 23614584.
10. Wellens, J., Vanderstappen, J., Hoekx, S., Vissers, E., Luppens, M., Van Elst, L., et al. (2026). Effect of five dietary emulsifiers on inflammation, permeability, and the gut microbiome: a placebo-controlled randomized trial. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 24(4), 1092-1101. doi:10.1016/j.cgh.2025.08.005. PMID 40816342.

Product details were taken from the Amazon listings for ASINs B0013OSNEC, B003BHZ71G, and B000MGOXUA and may change. HonestLifter carries no affiliate links. This article is educational and is not medical advice.