There is no dietary requirement for taurine, since the body can make it out of vitamin B₆ and the amino acids methionine and cysteine. Deficiencies occasionally occur in vegetarians, whose diets may not provide the building blocks for making taurine.

People with diabetes have lower-than-average blood levels of taurine, but whether this means they should take extra taurine is unclear.

Meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products, and fish are good sources of taurine. Legumes and nuts don't contain taurine, but they do contain methionine and cysteine.

Preliminary evidence suggests that taurine might be helpful in congestive heart failure (CHF), a condition in which the heart has trouble pumping blood, which leads to fluid accumulating in the legs and lungs.¹Warning: Keep in mind that CHF is too serious for self-treatment. If you're interested in trying taurine or any other supplement for CHF, you should first consult your doctor.

There is also some evidence that taurine may be helpful for acute viral hepatitis.²

Taurine has additionally been proposed as a treatment for numerous other conditions, including alcoholism, cataracts, diabetes, epilepsy, gallbladder disease, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and stroke, but the evidence for these uses is weak and, in some cases, contradictory.^3-7 Taurine is also sometimes combined in an "amino acid cocktail" with other amino acids for treatment of attention deficit disorder, but there is no evidence as yet that it works for this purpose.

Several studies (primarily by one research group) suggest that taurine may be useful for congestive heart failure. For example, in one double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 58 people with CHF took either placebo or 2 g of taurine 3 times daily for 4 weeks.⁸ Then the groups were switched. During taurine treatment, the study participants showed highly significant improvement in breathlessness, heart palpitations, fluid buildup, and heart x-ray, as well as standard scales of heart failure severity. Animal research as well as small blinded or open studies in humans have also found positive effects.^9-13 Interestingly, one very small study compared taurine with another supplement commonly used for congestive heart failure, coenzyme Q₁₀. The results suggest that taurine is more effective.¹⁴  

Viral Hepatitis

There are several viruses that can cause acute viral hepatitis, a disabling and sometimes dangerous infection of the liver. The most common are hepatitis A and B, although there are others (with such imaginative names as C and D).

One double-blind study suggests that taurine supplements might be useful for acute viral hepatitis. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 63 people with hepatitis were given either 12 g of taurine daily or placebo.¹⁵ (The report does not state what type of viral hepatitis they had.) According to blood tests, the taurine group experienced significant improvements in liver function as compared to the placebo group.

Acute hepatitis can also develop into a long-lasting or permanent condition known as chronic hepatitis. One small double-blind study suggests that taurine does not help chronic hepatitis.¹⁶ For this purpose, the herb milk thistle may be better.

As an amino acid found in food, taurine is thought to be quite safe. There is strong evidence that taurine is safe at levels up to 3 g per day, although higher dosages have been tested without apparent adverse effects.¹⁷ However, maximum safe dosages of taurine supplements for children, pregnant or nursing women, or those with severe liver or kidney disease have not been determined.

As with any supplement taken in multigram doses, it is important to purchase a reputable product, because a contaminant present even in small percentages could add up to a real problem.