Taurine...Good for Many Things

Most people think of amino acids as the building blocks of proteins, and rightly so, because the essential and nonžessential amino acids are often used in building protein.

An essential amio acid is one that must be supplied by the diet.  A non-essential amino acid, though highly necessary for the body, is not supplied by the diet directly, but made in the body from resulting amino acid pool from food stuffs.

Still, there are amino acids that are not used in the body to make protein or muscle tissues. They are directly used for biochemical reactions. One such amino acid is Taurine.

Typical doses of Taurine are 1000 to 4000 mg per day.

1. Taurine is a sulfur bearing amino acid derived from the amino cystein which comes from methionine. Methionine is found chiefly in meats and less in certain legumes and grains. Methionine is an essential amino acid and must be supoplied by the diet, whereas Taurine is made by the body from the amino acid pool.

• Uses:

Taurine is a component of the bile salt, taurocholic acid. It is important for absorption fatžsoluble vitamins and the digestion of fats. However, the lion's share is free floating inside cells of the body. It does not become part of protein tissue, but is used extensively in the tissues of muscles and nerves.

Membrane Stabilization: It is used therapeutically in membrane stabilization for the muscles, nerves, and other cells of the body; however, it also used in reducing heart arrhythmias.

Heart Arrhythmias: This is the process whereby the heart just quivers like a bowl of jello and not beat or contract. When the heart contracts, it literaly wrings out the muscle as well as forcing a bolus of blood throughout the biological system.

Heart Contraction: Taurine helps in the strength of the heart contraction thus facilitating its pumping action. Through this action, Taurine can help treat heart failure. In heart failure, the heart has less ability to pump out the blood coming to it and this process creates--since blood is backing up--causes the lungs to begin filling with fluid. This leads to "shortness of breath."

Swelling of the legs is often a concomitant function of congestive heart failure. This is done by osmosis (passive movement of water) which is created in the tissues of a biological system with heart failure, depending upon which part of the heart is failing or more involved.

Therefore, taurine assists in helping remove this underlying condition by increasing the contractile strength of the heart. Congestive heart failure leads to one or both states: edem of the tissues, especially in the legs and fluid in the lungs.

Blood Pressure: Taurine has been shown to be very helpful in reducing blood pressure, especially those with heart failure too.

Rods & Cones: Taurine has been shown to be beneficial for lessening damage to the rods and cones of the eyes, hence helping in peripheral vision and movement.

Macular Degeneration: The macular portion of the eye is where the sharpest vision occurs. It is central vision to the eye. In the center portion of the eye, you get the sharpest visual acuity. However, with aging, one tends to develop Age Related Magular Degeneration (AMD) and know complete known cause exists.

Except that, AMD, is enhanced by blue light, ultra violet light, and Lutein, a flavone found in fruits and vegetables and expecially soy, helps deter this. Also, Taurine appears to protect the Macular portion of the eye from degeneration.

Seizures: Taurine is neuroinhibitory substance, and it has help in seizure control. The information and data here is limited in that some studies have not confirmed its seizure control ability.

Sexual Function: In men with sexual dysfunction, Taurine has been shown to be a free radical sink necessary for tumescence in many cases.