Taurine was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 — taurus, the bull — and the name has stuck to it for two centuries. It is the most abundant free amino acid in the body by some measures, though it is not an amino acid in the ordinary sense: it has no carboxyl group and is never built into protein. It circulates and acts on its own.
It concentrates where excitable tissue lives: heart, retina, skeletal muscle, brain, and platelets. Taurine conjugates bile acids, which is how it participates in normal fat digestion. It stabilizes cell membranes, participates in the regulation of intracellular calcium, and contributes to normal osmoregulation — the cell's management of its own water and volume. It plays a role in normal cardiac and skeletal muscle function and in the normal function of the retina.
Humans synthesize taurine from cysteine, but the pathway is limited, and dietary intake comes almost entirely from animal foods. Those eating little or none of them take in very little.
Hypoallergenic, free of diluents, binders, and fillers, in Ecological Formulas' practice since 1981.
500 mg · Available in 100 capsules
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