Taurine is a conditionally essential amino acid for the adult, but essential for infants or children. Taurine is one of the sulfur amino acids and is found throughout the body abundantly in the heart muscle, eye, central nervous system, and the brain. A deficiency of taurine can add to chemical sensitivity and decrease the body's ability to detoxify chemicals.
Taurine is a major inhibitory amino acid.
Taurine helps support normal electrical firing of cell membranes in the brain, and essential in the generation and transmission of nerve impulses. The need for taurine increases during periods of illness, stress, anxiety, grief, or depression. Women require more taurine than men. Taurine is the most prominent amino acid in the heart, and plays a role in smooth heart rhythm and heart muscle contractiblity. A deficiency of taurine is often seen with retinal and eye degeneration.