Eul-Sang Kim

Dietary Taurine Intake and Serum Taurine Levels of Women on Jeju Island

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary taurine intake and serum taurine levels of women on Jeju Island in Korea. Sixty six married women aged 43.5 +/- 7.1 volunteered for this study: 34 from the city area and 32 from two fishing-farming areas. Diet samples were collected from the participants; the samples included three meals (breakfast, lunch and supper), including snacks, drinks and whatever else the participants had eaten for 24 hours. Taurine levels in the diet and serum were determined as the dabsyl derivative by HPLC with a Rf-detector. The intake of taurine ranged from 8.4 to 767.6 mg/day and its mean value was 163.9 +/- 150.2 mg/day (mean +/- SD). There was a significant difference between the two groups: 114.9 +/- 78.7 for the women from the city area and 215.9 +/- 187.9 mg/day for the women from the fishing-farming areas (p<0.001). The taurine intake of the total diet, including all snacks and drinks, was 2300 +/- 584 g/day for the city area and 2342 +/- 528 g/day for the fishing-farming areas. The daily protein intake was 58.8 +/- 16.4 g for the women of the city area and 65.5 +/- 17.1 g for the women of the fishing-farming areas. There was a significant correlation between the intake of fish/shellfish and taurine (p=0.001) while there was no correlation between the intake of protein and taurine (p=0.057). The taurine levels in serum ranged from 68.6 to 261.6 micromol/L and the mean value was 169.7 +/- 41.5 micromol/L. There was no significant difference between the women from the city area and the women from the fishing-farming areas in serum taurine levels. The correlations of serum taurine levels with serum retinol levels (p=0.016) and alpha-tocopherol (p=0.014) levels were significant. These results suggest that taurine intake is dependent on the fish/shellfish intake and that taurine may play an important role in the retention of antioxidative nutrients.

Quantitation of Taurine and Selenium Levels in Human Milk and Estimated Intake of Taurine by Breast-Fed Infants during the early Periods of Lactation

With these results we report the following: Taurine levels in human milk decreased slightly during the early lactation period. The concentration of taurine (406 +/- 174 nmol/ml) in colostrum was significantly higher than that (335 +/- 115 nmol/ml) in mature milk. Selenium content of human milk also decreased slightly during the early lactation period. The content of selenium (28.6 +/- 19.6 ng/ml) in colostrum was significantly higher than that (1 5.1 +/- 5.9 ng/ml) in mature milk. A correlation was not found between the taurine and selenium content of human milk. The intake of taurine and selenium by breast-fed infants progressively increased with days postpartum. These results were due to the significant increase in milk intake by infants. It is suggested that the taurine and selenium levels in colostrum are more concentrated than those in mature milk. However, the absolute intake of taurine and selenium by infants are higher in mature milk.

Taurine Intake and Excretion in Patients Undergoing Long Term Enterel Nutrition

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether serum concentration and urinary excretion of taurine are influenced by marginal taurine intake. Twenty one male patients (75 to 95 years old), suffering from coronary heart disease, multiple cerebral infarction, cancer, subdural hematoma or respiratory failure were grouped according to duration of tube feeding (group one, 5.9 +/- 2.9; group two, 14.8 +/- 2.3; group three 48.0 +/- 22.7, mean +/- SD, months). The mean intake of taurine was 347.0 +/- 25.6, 339.8 +/- 25.6 and 337.1 +/- 259 micromol/day (mean +/- SEM) in group one, two and three, respectively. The fasting serum taurine levels were 106.5 +/- 9.6, 95.0 +/- 9.9 and 56.8 +/- 11.0 micromol/L (mean +/- SEM) in group one, two and three, respectively. Taurine level in group three patients was significantly lower than that of group one and two (p<0.05). The twenty-four hour urinary taurine excretion was 776.1 +/- 176.7, 782.4 +/- 245.3 and 388.3 +/- 169.3 micromol/day (mean +/- SEM) in group one, two and three, respectively. These results suggest that marginal taurine intake in patients receiving long term tube feeding could result in taurine deficiency.

Taurine Intake of Korean Breast-Fed Infants during Lactation

i. Taurine concentrations of human milk of nonvegetarians and lacto-ovovegetarians decreased significantly during the course of lactation. Taurine concentrations in lacto-ovovegetarians after 90 days postpartum were lower than those of nonvegetarians. Taurine concentrations of human milk by 150 days postpartum were: nonvegetarian 248-434 nmol/ml (31.0-54.4 mg/L); lacto-ovovegetarian 153-418 nmol/ml (19.1-52.3 mg/L). ii. Taurine intakes in infants of lacto-ovovegetarians decreased significantly during lactation, unlike from the pattern in infants of nonvegetarians. Taurine intakes in infants of lacto-ovovegetarians at 90, 120 and 150 days postpartum were lower, compared with those in nonvegetarians. Taurine intakes in infants by 150 days postpartum were: Infants of nonvegetarians 169-229 mumol/day (21.1-28.6 mg/day); Infants of lacto-ovovegetarians 106-210 mumol/day (21.1-28.6 mg/day). iii. This study showed that the taurine concentration in human milk and the taurine intake of infants were different during lactation between nonvegetarians and lacto-ovovegetarians, and that the intake per kg body weight decreased during lactation. Results suggest that the differences observed might be due to the effect of consumption of different types of food.

Effect of α-Tocopherol and Taurine Supplementation on Oxidized LDL Levels of Middle Aged Korean Women During Aerobic Exercise

The risk factors of atherosclerosis have been reported as elevated levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and low levels of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in the serum. Oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) is reported to be an important independent predictor of atherosclerosis1.