Taurine: A useful dietary supplement for tired minds

Taurine is a non-proteinogenic and sulphurous amino acid that occurs naturally in both the daily nutrition and the human body. Non-proteinogenic means that, unlike other amino acids, it is not incorporated into proteins. Taurine is produced from methionine and cysteine by the body itself. However, the human organism can synthesise it relatively poorly. Only about 50 to 125mg are produced daily.

Taurine occurs freely (unbound) in the cells. Between 30 and 70g taurine are found in the organism of a person weighing about 70kg. It is found in high concentrations in muscles, brain, heart and blood.

Taurine was isolated from ox gall by Leopold Gmelin and Friedrich Tiedemann in 1827 and was called bile asparagine. At that time the chemists were working on the investigation of the processes in the digestive process of cattle.

The term "taurine" comes from the Latin name for bull gall, Fel tauri, or from the Greek word tauros for "bull" and was first mentioned in literature in 1838.

Occurrence of taurine in food

Good taurine sources are crabs (260mg/100g), tuna (70mg/100g), pork fillet (50mg/100g), lamb fillet (47mg/100g), beef fillet (36mg/100g), chicken (34mg/100g), liver (30mg/100g) and milk (6mg/100g).

Since taurine is mainly found in animal foods, a dietary supplement with this amino acid can be useful for vegetarians and vegans.

Functions of taurine in the body

Taurine is involved in many metabolic functions in the body, including the function of the central nervous system, the heart and the muscles. It is also important for the flow of bile.

Benefits of the taurine capsules by Fairvital

• highly dosed with 900mg per capsule
• without magnesium stearate and silicon dioxide
• vegetarian and vegan