Citicoline seems to increase a brain chemical called phosphatidylcholine. This brain chemical is important for brain function. Citicoline might also decrease brain tissue damage when the brain is injured.

Citicoline for Supporting Memory in Aging Humans studies showed that Citicoline intake improves brain uptake of choline in older persons, suggestive of that it shall help in reversing early age-related cognitive changes. In randomized, placebo-controlled trials of cognitively normal middle-aged and elderly persons, positive effects of Citicoline on memory efficacy were found. Similar effects of Citicoline on memory indices were also found in patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment and some other neurological diseases. Altogether, the aforementioned data provide complex and unambiguous evidence supporting the claim that oral Citicoline intake positively influences memory function in humans who encounter age-related memory impairment also in the absence of any detectable neurological or psychiatric disease.