• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Health Articles » Cut Through The Marketing Hype And Taurine Can Still Be Of Great Benefit

Cut Through The Marketing Hype And Taurine Can Still Be Of Great Benefit

Taurine is one of those perhaps lesser known amino acids which are known to medicine as "non-essential". But "non-essential" in this context simply means that it is not essential to ensure a daily intake from diet, because the compound can be manufactured by the body, albeit in fairly small quantities. It should not be taken as lessening the importance of taurine or the other non-essential amino acids in any way.

Much publicity has recently been given to taurine as a way of preventing hangovers and slowing or even reversing the liver damage caused by long term excess alcohol consumption. So taurine is commonly added with caffeine to the energy drinks increasingly sold as mixers to take with alcoholic drinks. Whilst it has to be said that the "jury's still out" on some of the wilder claims made in this regard, there is evidence that taurine may be beneficial not just for the liver but for the heart, kidneys and other organs which may become subject to inflammation or the accumulation of fluid or fat.

Complementary medical practitioners are particularly enthusiastic in using taurine supplements as therapy for conditions including hypertension, macular degeneration of the eyes, congestive heart failure, fluid retention and asthma. Although these conditions may appear diverse, if there is a common factor it is probably an imbalance in body chemistry, particularly perhaps the relative concentrations of potassium, magnesium and sodium within the cells. And there is some good research evidence to suggest that taurine's effect in restoring proper fluid balance may be very effective in reducing blood pressure and tackling congestive heart failure.

When taken in conjunction with magnesium, taurine may help maintain good heart rhythm, and it is also an anti-oxidant which helps protect against atherosclerosis and the formation of potentially dangerous blood clots.

As a fat soluble anti-oxidant, taurine is also invaluable in protecting the light sensitive cells of the retina, which contain a very high concentration of fats, from the free radical damage which can lead to loss of vision through macular degeneration. Taurine's role as an anti-oxidant has also been highlighted as a possible protector of the lungs against free radical attack, with potentially particularly valuable implications for sufferers from asthma.

Finally, although it remains a matter of some controversy, taurine's role in balancing cell chemistry is also believed by some nutritionists to protect against epileptic and other types of brain seizure. It is also found in very high concentrations in the white blood cells which are the key to a healthy immune system, and is believed to help stabilise blood sugar levels.

To manufacture sufficient taurine within the body a good supply of the essential amino acids is required, particularly methionine. By far the best sources of these are the so-called "first-class" protein foods, called first-class precisely because they contain all of the essential amino acids. Meat, poultry, fish and dairy products are all within this group, and for the purposes of taurine, shellfish are a particularly rich source.

A diet providing normal quantities of these food groups will usually be adequate to prevent taurine deficiency, but not necessarily to secure the maximum benefits for sufferers from the conditions mentioned above. Those following a vegetarian diet will also have to take particular care to combine foods correctly in order to obtain an adequate supply of the essential amino acids; methionine especially.

Fortunately, however, there appear to be no toxicity issues with taurine supplementation, except for sufferers from excess stomach acidity or ulcers. So some nutritional therapists commonly recommend therapeutic doses of up to 4,000 mg a day, particularly when treating the heart and cardiovascular conditions detailed above, with no reports of ill-effects. It's worth noting, however, that some minor gastro-intestinal disturbances have been observed when even higher doses have been applied.

But as always, when considering any program of supplementation, it needs to be remembered that the body is a holistically functioning organism, and that no one nutrient can function 100% effectively in the absence of an adequate supply of all the others. Taking individual supplements of amino acids can create an imbalance, and is not therefore recommended except in the short term, and is in any case best accompanied by a comprehensive multi-vitamin and multi'mineral regime. In the case of taurine, however, it is also worth pointing out that its action seems to be particularly dependent on good supplies of vitamin B6 and the essential mineral, zinc.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Do You Make These Ten Management Mistakes?

As a busy executive, you face some extremely difficult challenges like creating and dominating new markets or finding and keeping the best people. But then, like many executives, do you find yourself spending too much time solving everyday problems (that only you can solve, right?), which prevent you from growing your ideal business?

Most managers find themselves spending 80% or more of their time "reacting" to business events and very little time in preventing those same events from occurring again. If this sounds familiar then you may be making some of these management mistakes:

1. Do you have a compelling vision for your company, that projects a remarkable future, but few of your employees have heard of it or could explain it if asked?
2. Do you have a company mission that addresses your customer needs yet your operations fail to measure your progress towards your mission?
3. Do your objectives focus on increasing revenue and profitability while your assets are performing poorly, generating negative cash flows, or encumbered by debt to create the profit?
4. Do you talk a lot about your employees (positive or negative) without noting what your employee turnover or performance metrics are for your industry?
5. Do you spend a lot of time working IN your business on tactics yet fail to spend a greater amount of time working ON your business to define your strategy, performance metrics, and real resource needs?
6. Do you have regular interactions with employees yet fail to communicate the status of objectives, financials, or metrics?
7. Do you make money available for training yet fail to measure how that training helps your company achieve its goals?
8. Do you constantly strive to improve your company's performance yet fail to compare your performance against external benchmarks for success?
9. Do you believe that your customers, employees, and vendors all love your company yet you have no process for measuring their satisfaction on an on-going basis?
10. Do you produce forecasts and budgets yet fail to achieve the agreed upon goals or learn from the experience to improve in the future.
11. Daily operational issues eat up much of a manager's time. Too much for most managers. But by reversing this trend, you will have the opportunity to correct those mistakes and build a superior organization that keeps your best people, increases revenue and increases margins.

Start by examining how to remove yourself from your business. Look at automating or outsourcing tasks you perform now. Any task that falls within the tactical operation of your business should be transferred to another person.

If automating or outsourcing is not an option then move the responsibility down the organization and train your employees to take over those tasks. Most employees are quite capable once they have been properly trained and given enough time to become proficient.

Continuous improvement beats delayed perfection.

The business is not about the founder, executive or management that has more experience, thinks they are the smartest or can do the best job. A business is about all of the people. In fact a business is the people.

Management's job is strategic. Manager's must focus on the vision, mission and objectives of the organization. Then deploy the resources to see the work gets done. Then measure, monitor and communicate the results so that everyone has the information they need to improve their performance.

Management job is to do the strategic work and not to do the tactical work or else who is doing the managers job? The workers cannot.