by Jack Norris, RD
Summary: Most plant foods don’t contain taurine, with some seaweeds being a notable exception. The current consensus among health professionals is that, beyond infancy, the human body produces enough taurine to satisfy its needs, as long as protein needs are met.
Taurine is an amino sulfonic acid. Some mammals produce their own taurine, while others, such as cats, don’t. While there isn’t research measuring the exact amount of endogenous taurine production in humans, the human body contains enzymes that convert cysteine, an amino acid found in protein, into taurine (Wikipedia).
| Table 1. Taurine measurements among vegans and omnivores | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measurement | Study | Men | Women | ||
| Omnivore | Vegan | Omnivore | Vegan | ||
| Intake (mg/day) | Rana and Sanders (1986) | 76 | ND | 43 | ND |
| Plasma (µmol/L) | Rana and Sanders (1986) | 103 | 88 | 76 | 66 |
| Laidlaw et al. (1988) | 58 | 45 | |||
| Urine (mg/day) | Rana and Sanders (1986) | 95 | 29 | 67 | 33 |
| Laidlaw et al. (1988) | 113 | 33 | |||
| Breastmilk (mg/L) | Rana and Sanders (1986) | 54 | 35 | ||
| Agostoni et al. (2000) | 38 | ||||
| ND – none detected | |||||
Table 1 indicates that vegans have lower plasma taurine concentrations than omnivores. This pattern isn’t alarming: people who consume a given molecule typically show higher circulating levels than those who don’t. Although plasma taurine hasn’t been extensively studied, there’s no evidence of taurine deficiency among vegans, and most apparently healthy vegans—including adults raised vegan—do not supplement with taurine.
Table 1 shows the amount of taurine typically consumed by omnivores along with urinary losses (which appears to be the main way humans lose taurine). Using the data from Rana and Sanders in Table 1, subtracting taurine intakes from losses suggests that omnivores produce about 19–24 mg of taurine per day.
Rana and Sanders (1986) directly measured the taurine content of vegan meals and found no taurine. Laidlaw et al. (1990) found no taurine in the 48 plant foods they tested. Pasantes et al. (1989) found no taurine in 42 plant foods but a small amount in 11; the highest taurine content per gram was in cashews (38.3 nmol/g; 0.00479 mg/g; 0.14 mg per 1/4 cup). It’s possible that Pasantes et al. used methods that yielded inaccurate results.
Kawasaki et al. (2017) found taurine in a wide range of seaweeds, many of which contain “nori” in their common name. The main types of nori used for sushi in the United States are the red algae types, Pyropia yezoensis and Pyropia tenera (Wikipedia). Kawasaki et al. measured the taurine content of Pyropia yezoensis, which they also referred to as susabinori, and found it to contain 1,940 mg per 100 g of dry weight (49 mg per 2.5 g sushi roll sheet). They didn’t provide an amount of taurine for Pyropia tenera.
While it’s not clear what taurine needs are for infants, with an average taurine content in breastmilk of 38–54 mg/L (Table 1), and an average one month old’s breastmilk intake of 624 ml/day (Rios-Leyvraz and Yao, 2023), the average one month old infant will have a daily taurine intake of about 24-34 mg/day.
For more information, including about taurine supplementation, see Vegan Taurine Sources: How Vegans Can Get Enough of This Nutrient, by Stephanie Wells, MS, RD, LD, ACSM-CPT (October 2, 2023).
Bibliography
Laidlaw SA, Grosvenor M, Kopple JD. The taurine content of common foodstuffs. JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr. 1990 Mar-Apr;14(2):183-8. Erratum in: JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 1990 Jul-Aug;14(4):380. PMID: 2352336.