About Taurine

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette and I am a registered and licensed dietitian with Marquette Nutrition and Fitness and I'm going to talk to you about Taurine. Taurine is actually an amino acid. It is not called an essential amino acid because our body can't make this particular amino acid however, there may be cases where we could become deficient and this particular amino acid is used in a variety of different conditions. Some of the reasons why we may become deficient is if we have a health condition something that causes a serious illness in our body. It could be a variety of things. In addition to an illness sometimes pregnancy puts an extreme strain on the body and you may become deficient in this particular amino acid at that time. Because it is an amino acid it can be found in any type of food with a significant amount of protein in it so all types of meats, eggs, cheese, really all dairy products and beans, nuts and seeds. Those are all high protein foods that will have the potential to have amino acid taurine in it. So to make sure that you have sufficient intake again even though this is not necessarily an essential amino acid you do want to include a variety of high protein foods in your diet to prevent possible deficiencies especially for women who are pregnant or if you are suffering from some type of illness or infection that is putting added strain on your body."