TAURINE: Oedema, high blood pressure, seizure fighter

When I first realized that many vita-nutrients, because of their extremely high benefit-to-risk ratio, really deserved to bе сonsidered by all doctors as the ‘treatment of choice’ for certain medical conditions, the one that immediately came to mind was L-taurine. For conditions as varied as congestive heart failure, fluid retention, high blood pressure, asthma, seizure disorders and macular degeneration, complementary doctors time and again turn to this amino acid. If the rest of the medical profession acknowledged or understood its value, taurine would consistently place as one of the top three best-selling ‘drugs’.

Unlike other amino acids, taurine does not become part of our protein supply. Instead it polices our cell membranes, keeping potassium and magnesium inside the cells and keeping excess sodium out. In this way the nutrient works like a diuretic. But unlike prescription diuretics, taurine is not a cellular poison. It does not act against the kidneys. In fact, because it improves kidney diseases in experimental animals, it was proposed as a treatment for several kinds of human renal disorders.

For any condition in which tissue swelling or fluid accumulation must be diminished – heart failure, liver disease and ovarian cancer, among them — taurine is the best resort. Even for those harmless instances when you get a little puffy, such as after a long plane flight or as menstruation nears, a few doses of taurine will do the job without any fear of side effects. That’s more than can be said for pharmaceutical diuretics, which have been accused, in recent years, of causing the very tissue swelling and water retention that they purport to relieve.

The ‘side effects’ of taurine, in contrast, amount to even more additional benefits. Regular supplements contribute to our antioxidant defenses, reinforce the immune system, strengthen the heart muscle, stabilize heart rhythm, prevent blood clots, guard against diabetes and aid digestion.

Heart Disease
Thousands of my patients with high blood pressure have taken taurine supplements over the years, and almost all of them benefit. In addition to encouraging the excretion of excess fluid, which takes pressure off our blood vessels, the amino acid dampens the sympathetic nervous system (which can constrict blood vessels), thereby relieving arterial spasms that cause blood pressure to rise.

The nutrient’s impact on congestive heart failure is extraordinarily well documented. In one placebo-controlled study 79 per cent of a group of heart patients derived some benefit from taking taurine. Why does it work? Aside from the diuretic action, taurine strengthens the heart muscle and maintains the calcium balance. It plays a major role in regulating the heart’s contractility, and it guards against the toxic threat of drugs like doxorubicin, a medication used in chemotherapy that frequently causes heart attacks, cardiac arrest and arrhythmia.

Arrhythmia, a disturbance in the heart’s regular rhythm, often coincides with a loss of both taurine and magnesium. Supplements of magnesium taurate or taurine plus magnesium play a key cole in stabilizing heart rhythm. They also help prevent cholesterol from sticking to artery walls, promote the excretion of harmful blood fats and discourage blood platelets from clumping together, thereby reducing the risks of blood clots.

Seizure Disorders
For me, seeing is believing. What I know without doubt is that my patients with epilepsy or similar brain irritability remain free of seizures when they take taurine regularly. When they neglect to do so, the seizures return. Seizures caused by the swelling of brain tissue such as occurs with brain tumours are relieved by taurine. Certain excitotoxic chemicals, such as monosodium glutamate and aspartame, lower the body’s concentration of taurine, which may be one reason why these food additives are associated with seizure activity.

Occasionally an editorial is published that disputes taurine’s value as a seizure treatment. My response is the Atkins Center’s consistent clinical success with taurine therapy. Patient observation is a scientific study. My patients’ successful discontinuation of seizure medication is a scientific fact.

Vision Impairment
The rods and cones in our retinas contain the highest concentration of polyunsaturated fats of any other cells in the body. These fats need constant antioxidant protection provided by nutrients, including taurine. A deficiency damages the retinas of both animals and people.

By administering taurine intravenously, Robert Bradford, PhD, has been achieving dramatic improvements in vision for people with macular degeneration. It’s proved to be one of the few substances, natural or synthetic, that can influence this virtu ally untreatable retinal disease. Sometimes the amino acid can also be useful against another cause of blindness, retinitis pigmentosa.

Immune Weakness
Intravenous infusions of taurine can also masterfully help to rebuild a suppressed immune system. The most abundant amino acid in our white blood cells, it protects these infection fighters from self-destruction as they battle invading microbes. When taurine is in short supply, white blood cells often won’t fire at all, greatly weakening the immune system.

High Blood Sugar
Although Type I and Type II diabetes are two distinct diseases, taurine helps stabilize blood sugar in both. For people with Type II, it improves cellular sensitivity to insulin; for people with Type I, a daily 1.5 gram dose keeps blood sugar lower over the long term and reduces abnormal platelet activity. People with diabetes frequently have below normal blood levels of taurine, which might compound their susceptibility to retinopathy and heart damage.

Fat Metabolism
To break down cholesterol, the body needs bile, an enzyme manufactured in the liver with taurine’s help. In taurine’s presence, bile remains in a liquid state and is less likely to form gallstones. The process is of notable concern to anyone whose gallbladder has been surgically removed or whose liver may not function optimally. Additionally, people with cystic fibrosis can digest fats more successfully when they take taurine supplements.

Breathing Constrictions
Our lungs are exposed to more free radicals than any other part of the body. Taurine plays a major role protecting these tissues. According to animal studies, taurine offers nearly complete protection from respiratory hazards such as ozone. Anyone with asthma should keep taurine as a constant companion. Asthma attacks are diminished significantly when a daily 500 mg dosage is taken as a lung aerosol.

SUPPLEMENT SUGGESTIONS

Because it’s produced in the body (albeit in small amou taurine is another of the many nutrients branded by mainstream medicine as ‘nonessential’. But the possibility of a deficiency exists, especially if you don’t eat shellfish, the nutrient’s most abundant source. The two sulfur-containing amino acids that can be turned into taurine are cysteine and methionine, found most often in egg yolks and animal meats. However, these are rare ingredients for anyone who follows the conventional low- fat diet.

Oestrogen replacement therapy blocks the manufacture of taurine, as will chemotherapy or a lack of good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. (Supplements of beneficial bacteria and vitamin B6 can restore the proper balance.) In infants, taurine may be an essential nutrient; mother’s milk is rich in it, but cow’s milk is not. Fortunately most infant formulas now contain taurine.

Few adverse reactions are associated with taurine supplementation. However the amino acid should not be used indiscriminately by people with ulcers because it can increase the secretion of stomach acids. Everyone else should easily tolerate between 1 and 3 grams every day. In some people, doses of 5 grams or higher may occasionally loosen stools. For treating seizure disorder, oedema, high blood pressure or the like, the therapeutic range is 1.5-4 grams daily, in divided doses.