How does taurine affect dogs

Taurine for Dogs: Do Dogs Need Taurine Supplements?

Reviewed and updated for accuracy on April 15, 2020 by Amanda Ardente, DVM

Amino acids are the basic building blocks of protein. There are 22 amino acids that are needed for proper functioning of the body.

In dogs, 12 of these amino acids are nonessential, meaning the body can make them on its own. The other 10 amino acids are essential, meaning they must be supplied by the diet.

Taurine is known to be a dietary requirement for cats and may be for some dog breeds as well.

Heres what you need to know about the amount of taurine in dog food, the risk of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) from taurine deficiency, and whether you should consider taurine supplements for dogs.

Does Dog Food Have Taurine?

Since taurine is known to be essential for cats, cat food must have taurine supplemented in quantities established by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) and the National Research Council (NRC).

To date, however, there are no stated requirements for supplementing dog food with taurine. The extent to which dogs may require dietary taurine is still under investigation and may be breed dependent.

Taurine Deficiency and Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Dogs

Taurine deficiency is one cause of a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), where the heart muscle thins and the chambers become enlarged. This is true for cats, and may now also be true for dogs.

Recently, studies have found a connection between DCM and these breeds of dogs:

While research is ongoing, there are theories that the onset of DCM is related to the diet, specifically, grain-free diets. However, the question remains whether the DCM occurs due to an overall lack of taurine in the dog food or other dietary factors that cause problems with taurine digestion, absorption, metabolism, and/or excretion.

How Do Vets Test for Taurine Deficiency?

Veterinarians would first need a thorough history of your dog's health, including a list of symptoms and the diet fed.

Then, your veterinarian would conduct a complete physical examination of your dog and do routine blood work, including:

Blood concentrations of taurine can be measured by a laboratory to determine whether deficiency is likely. There are normal ranges for blood-taurine concentrations in dogs, so if the measured concentration is lower than that range, taurine deficiency is probable.

What Health Issues Are Caused by Taurine Deficiency in Dogs?

Taurine is distributed throughout the body with high concentration in certain tissues, including the heart, theretinaof the eye, and the brain. Taurine deficiency may be suspected if heart disease, retinal disease, and/or cystinuria are identified via the physical exam and/or initial laboratory results.

Taurine Deficiency and Heart Disease

If heart disease is suspected based on physical exam and/or blood work (e.g., low blood taurine), then chest X-rays,electrocardiogram(ECG), and other diagnostic measures would be recommended in order to evaluate and diagnose the severity of the disease.

Taurine Deficiency and Eye Problems

Likewise, blood-taurine concentrations should be evaluated if retinal damage (problems with your dogs eyes) is found during a physical exam by your veterinarian.

Taurine Deficiency and Urinary Issues

If cysteine stones/crystals are found in the urinalysis, it is likely your dog has an issue metabolizing amino acids.

Cystinuria is more common in certain breeds, such as the following:

However, if present in any dog, it may indicate amino acid malabsorption, which can potentially be causing taurine deficiency.

Taurine Supplements for Dogs

Taurine supplementation is the treatment of choice for dogs suffering from taurine deficiency. The length of time that your dog will need taurine supplementation will depend on the severity of the deficiency and your dog's ability to maintain levels of taurine as it is ingested.

In some dogs, lifetime taurine supplementation may be required to prevent recurrent taurine deficiency. For other dogs, a diet change may be needed in addition to taurine supplementation, and if symptoms resolve, supplementation may be discontinued.

Managing Taurine Deficiency

Good nursing care is required at home during treatment of taurine deficiency.

Give all medications and supplements at the prescribed or recommended dose and frequency to avoid aggravation of the symptoms.

In the case of heart disease, your dog will need proper rest in a stress-free environment at home.

Your veterinarian will schedule follow-up examinations to monitor the treatment response in your dog. While dramatic improvement is seen in most animals, some animals may not respond completely to taurine supplementation and need further treatment.

Featured Image: iStock.com/Moyo Studio

A guide to taurine a dietary supplement for some dogs

Taurine is a word that frequently pops up in the ongoing research about grain-free diets and DCM in dogs. We felt it was important to include the most recent research and explain why taurine is mentioned.

Heres what we know so far

Some dog breeds like Newfoundlands developed taurine deficiency when they were fed a commercial diet containing lamb and rice. A few other dogs on a vegan or vegetarian diet developed a taurine deficiency which led to heart disease. Recently, certain grain-free dietsTrusted SourceU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Government agency.Go to source were found to cause some dogs to develop DCM as well.

Theres still research being done on these various diets to determine whats causing heart disease in certain dogs. Some of these diets didnt contain taurine. So its possible that a taurine deficiency may have been the cause of the heart disease.

Yet, most dogs with DCM dont have a taurine deficiency when their blood is tested.So taurine isnt likely the cause of several grain-free diets causing DCM in dogs.

Theres also discussion that these diets contain a moderate amount of peas and legumes which may be a factor in the development of DCM. Well update this article as research develops on the topic.

What the experts are saying

According to the Tufts Veterinary School, For the vast majority of dogs, we do not yet know what is causing this disease. There are definitely some dogs with DCM that have low taurine levels, many of which will improve with taurine supplementation and change of diet. For dogs that have normal taurine levels, however, other nutritional deficiencies may be present.

Experts from Tufts Veterinary School also note, Some nutritional deficiencies can affect the hearts normal function, so an insufficient amount of these nutrients (or reduced bioavailability) in the diet could cause heart disease. Diet-associated DCM could also be due to an ingredient in the food that is toxic to the heart.

The FDA and many other researchers are still actively studying this issue so they can give pet parents and veterinarians a more definitive answer.

Taurine & its Role in Chronic Renal Disease

What is Taurine?

Taurine is a semi-essential, sulfur-containing amino acid, it is called semi-essential as it can be synthesized from other sulfur-containing amino acids such as methionine and cysteine.

You may have heard of taurine before if you have ever consumed energy drinks like Red Bull where taurine is a touted ingredient to help improve energy and concentration levels in those consuming it.

Many studies have shown that patients with endstage renal disease are taurine depleted with low plasma and muscle intracellular concentrations of taurine.

When it comes to chronic kidney disease, and the disease related to kidney diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease taurine is a standout nutrient and one we are going to explore in detail today.

So read on to find out how taurine could be beneficial as part of your kidney health regime!

Taurine and The Cardiovascular System

A recent systematic review found that supplementation of 6g of Taurine per day for up to 4 weeks was able to improve cardiac function, decrease total serum cholesterol and Low-Density Lipid (LDL) particles and increase Very Low-Density Lipids. The same review also found that a 3g daily dose of Taurine was able to decrease left ventricular end-diastolic volume and triglycerides and support healthy blood pressure.

The role of taurine in supporting healthy blood pressure is built upon its ability to down-regulate the renal sympathetic nervous system.

Downregulation of the renal sympathetic nervous system reduces the production of the two major stress hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is important as norepinephrine is known to cause vasoconstriction, which is the constricting of the veins, which is the mechanism seen in the raising of blood pressure that when it becomes chronic can lead to hypertension or high blood pressure. Taurine thus has the ability to work via the kidneys as an efficient hypotensive (relaxing of the veins) via this mechanism.

Taurine also has a healthy regulatory effect on the cardiovascular system via the way in which taurine acts on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, it does this through modulating calcium homeostasis, exerting a diuretic action, as well as opening potassium channels to potentiate a vasorelaxant action, leading to a decrease in blood pressure.

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Taurine and the Liver

A study published in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology explored the role of taurine in halting the progression of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). The central finding of this paper relates to the key role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and oxidative stress in the development of NAFLD. The endoplasmic reticulum is an organelle within cells that plays an important role in the correct assembly of proteins destined for intracellular organelles and the cell surfacea process termed protein folding. A number of factors, however, can impair the endoplasmic reticulum and result in a phenomenon known as endoplasmic reticulum stress. One of these factors is oxidative stress, something we talk about a lot here at the Kidney Coach. Interestingly, endoplasmic reticulum stress can itself increase the production of oxidative species, leading to oxidative stress and inflammation, all hallmarks of chronic diseases including chronic kidney disease. Thus a vicious cycle can emerge, where oxidative stress drives the endoplasmic reticulum stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress drives oxidative stress. This cycle is further fuelled by other factors that induce oxidative stress and endoplasmic reticulum stress, such as high sucrose or long-chain saturated fatty acid intake. Importantly, the authors of the aforementioned study found that resolving endoplasmic reticulum stress can prevent liver inflammation, insulin resistance, and fat accumulation the factors which drive the development of NAFLD, and the impairment of liver function and liver health.

The authors suggested that the antioxidant properties of taurine include its ability to scavenge Reactive Oxygen Species and reduce lipid peroxidation. Another study suggested that taurines antioxidant mechanism is due to its ability to enhance the expression and activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, three very potent antioxidants present in the human body.

As a result, taurine has been found to be highly beneficial in maintaining the health of the liver, allowing it to do its job of detoxificationparticularly in the presence of high sugar and fat intake seen in the poor dietary choices of many people suffering from chronic diseases.

Gentile, C, Nivala, A, Gonzales, J, Pfaffenbach, K, Wang, D, Wei, Y, Jiang, H, Orlicky, D, Petersen, D, Pagliassotti, M & Maclean, K Experimental evidence for therapeutic potential of taurine in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 1 December 2011 Vol. 301 no. 6

Taurine and Diabetes

Taurines effectiveness in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance, insulin-dependent, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes is gaining an extensive amount of attention in the realms of scientific research. Taurine has been shown to assist glucose metabolism through a variety of mechanisms including its antioxidant action, osmoregulation, and anti-inflammatory actions. Taurine also has the ability to help some of the complications associated with diabetes including cataracts, retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, cardiomyopathy, and atherosclerosis.

People diagnosed with diabetes are seen to have lower plasma levels of taurine in the body when compared to healthy controls. The role of Taurine against the production of advanced blood sugar dysfunction, as seen in diabetes, is due to its high reactivity with aldehyde when compared to various other amino acids. In some studies, taurine supplementation put a stop to the processes that proceed with the onset of late-stage diabetes, preventing it from manifesting altogether.

Ito T, Schaffer SW, Azuma J. The potential usefulness of taurine on diabetes mellitus and its complications. Amino Acids. 2012 May;42(5):1529-39

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Taurine and the Kidneys

The kidney plays a pivotal role in maintaining taurine balance. As I have mentioned taurine acts as an antioxidant in a variety of in vitro and in vivo systems. It prevents lipid peroxidation of glomerular mesangial cells and renal tubular epithelial cells exposed to high glucose or hypoxic culture conditions, which is technical speech for taurine protects kidney tissue from the detrimental effects of blood sugar dysregulation and diabetes. Supplementing with taurine in animal studies ameliorates experimental renal disease including models of refractory nephrotic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy.

In the kidneys, taurine has been shown to exert various physiological functions including:

• Supporting a healthy glomerular filtration rate
• Improving renal blood flow
• Regulating ion reabsorption
• Osmoregulation (fluid control)

Animal studies have demonstrated that body taurine status, i.e how much taurine is present in the plasma of the renal patient, is a major determinant of renal IR injury. Taurine deficiency was shown to increase both the extent and the rate of recovery of urinary concentrating ability associated with renal architecture resembling normal kidneys. In laymans terms the less taurine present in the plasma the poorer the recovery and outcome from acute renal failure.

https://jbiomedsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S32

Another study found that taurine has the ability to play a role in four different forms of kidney disease:

• Glomerulonephritis
• Diabetic nephropathy
• Chronic renal failure
• Acute kidney injury

Protection against glomerulonephritis

Taurine functions as a protective agent against immune and toxicity-induced forms of glomerulonephritis. The addition of taurine to the diet appears to inhibit the function of antigen-presenting cells and T cells in T cell-induced crescentic glomerulonephritis. This same study showed that taurine in drinking water reduced urinary protein excretion and both serum and urine platelet-activating factor levels.

Protection against chronic renal failure

We now know that patients with chronic renal failure have reduced plasma and muscle intracellular concentrations of taurine. It is thought that the protection comes from the antioxidant, blood pressure regulating, and blood sugar protective mechanisms mentioned above. Diabetes and hypertension are the leading causes of chronic kidney disease, so it makes sense that taurines ability to prevent and treat these conditions would therefore have a protective role to play in the onset of chronic renal disease. Taurines ability to also protect kidney tissue via its antioxidant mechanism is another way in which taurine may prevent the onset of chronic kidney disease in those with already depleted stores.

Protection against acute kidney injury

Several models of AKI have been used to examine the influence of taurine in this process. In a study using a known kidney damaging antibiotic gentamicin, rats are injected with the antibiotic leading to a rise in serum creatinine and histologic features of acute tubular necrosis. Administration of taurine reduced the rise in creatinine and there was less accumulation of the drug in the kidney tissues. This basic study shows the ability of taurine to help protect against the toxic nature of things like antibiotics and other kidney-damaging medications such as chemotherapy and dyes.

https://jbiomedsci.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S4.pdf

Symptoms of Taurine Deficiency

• Vision problems
• Hypertension
• Problems with endurance and recovery after workouts
• Depression and anxiety
• Weight gain
• Kidney Disease
• Hyperthyroidism

Causes of Taurine Deficiency

There are many varying factors that may contribute to low plasma levels of taurine. Some of these include:

• Vegetarian / Vegan diets
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Liver Disease
• Heart Disease
• Kidney Disease
• Low levels of cysteine and methionine, as well as an enzyme, called cysteinsulfinic decarboxylase
• Deficiencies in vitamin A, zinc and pyridoxal-5-phosphate
• Excessive intake of foods with monosodium glutamate (MSG)
• Chronic Candida infections (Yeast Infections)
• General aging

Foods High In Taurine

• Eggs
• Fish Wild-caught salmon, sardine, and anchovies are the best sources for those with kidney disease
• Red Meat is also high in taurine, but something we recommend you avoid if you have chronic kidney disease due to the high protein content

Dosage

Dosages between 500mg-2,000mg have shown efficacy, although the upper limit for toxicity is placed at a much greater level and high doses are well-tolerated.

The upper limit for which one can be relatively assured no side effects will occur over a lifetime has been suggested to be 3g a day, with some studies mentioned above using up to 6gms a day over a 4 week period.

Drug Interactions

Antihypertensive Drugs

Theoretically, taurine might increase the risk of hypotension when taken with antihypertensive drugs. Clinical evidence suggests that taurine can reduce both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Lithium

Theoretically, taurine might reduce excretion and increase plasma levels of lithium. Taurine is thought to have diuretic properties, which might reduce the excretion of lithium.

Whenever you start a new medication or natural supplement always consult with your physician first.

Final words

Taurine is a fantastic adjunct to any kidney treatment protocol, especially if you have high blood pressure or early blood glucose changes and, something I didnt talk about, but if you are prone to stress. Taurine also helps support a healthy stress response via the renal sympathetic nervous system.

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