Abstract
IN previous investigations it has been shown that free taurine is present in the tissues of both invertebrate and vertebrate species1,2. However, published taurine analyses of specific food items or animal tissues, used as food, have been extremely limited3,4. Various reasons may be put forward to account for this lack of information. First, in man, taurine has not been shown to have an active function, other than that of conjugation with bile-acids5. Secondly, more than forty years ago, Schmidt showed that the oral administration of taurine to human subjects resulted in the prompt urinary excretion of 60–87 per cent of the taurine sulphur in the organic form. It was presumed that the organic sulphur-containing constituent in the urine was free taurine6. Thirdly, until this investigation, the only reported toxic effect of taurine occurred in rabbits; while in man and other animals it has been shown to be non-toxic even in high dosage7,8.
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References
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ROE, D., WESTON, M. Potential Significance of Free Taurine in the Diet. Nature 205, 287–288 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/205287a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/205287a0
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