Taurine is a sulfonat amino acid that can be synthesized by our body. It also can be found in several kind of food. It is amino acid that is needed by our body during its biological process. One of them is for our vision.
10 Health Benefits of Taurine for Our Eyes:
1. Protecting Our Eyes against Macular Degeneration:
Taurine is known to promote the rods and cones or the pigmented epithelial cells in our retina. Our retina functions as a visual receptor cells. The macular area of our retina is located near the optic nerve from the black of our eye. It is where the greatest visual acuity occurs. However, as we grow old, the macula usually degenerates because the rods and cones die. As a result, we will suffer from blindness. Even though the cause of degeneration is unclear, it may be the result of free radical from ultraviolet or oxygen exposure. Diabetes is also said contributes to macular degeneration.
2. Promoting High Concentration of Our Retina.
Taurine is able to control the electric charge across cell membranes. It is important for the function of nerve impulses. The nerve transmission is crucial for our eyes, especially in our retina, in order to have higher concentration.
3. Increasing Our Eyes Metabolism.
Taurine triggers protein molecule synthesis to improve the broken tissue. Taurine is given as a regeneration stimulator and improve the eyes tissue, such as cornea dystrophy, retina injury, glaukoma, cornea erotion, cataract, oftalmogerpese, and keratitis.
4. Reducing Tired Eyes.
When we work too much using computer or drive along during the night for a long time, our eyes will become tired. Taurine helps us reduces the our eyes tiredness.
5. Eliminating Molecules that Breaks the Eyes.
Taurine is amino acid that mostly found in retina. It protects our eyes from various toxin. Our vision level also decreases along with our age. The causes of vision losing are various, such as oxidative stress in light sensory cells. The ability of taurine to eliminate the molecules that breaks the eyes can influenceits ability to protect our retina.
6. Retina Development.
Taurine is useful for retina development. Lack of taurine will cause myopic eyes which eventually leas us into permanent blindness.
7. Promoting the Function of Our Retina.
Taurine is needed for controlling the electrical load that passes the cells membrane. It is important for keeping the nerve impulse function so that our retina has the ability to focus better.
8. Excellent for Baby.
Even though it is only for a small amount, taurine is beneficial for the development and the grow of the fetus. It is essentially needed for baby’s brain cells and his eyes. It also increases baby’s immunity and protect baby from infection and digestive problem. Moreover, it also improves baby’s digestion system and heart function.
9. Reducing Loss of Visions in Adults’ Eyes.
Human’s retina contains of photoreceptors which has the highest concentration in the human body. Tests on animals have shown that the lack of taurine stocks in our retine will lead to the degeneration of photo receptors. Thus, the supplementation of taurine is often recommended in the cases of senile caracat and macular degeneration (AMD) that affects older adults which eventually brings a loss of vision in the center of the visual field.
10. Removing Waste Materials.
Taurine is also knows to remove waste materials, toxins, and impurities from our eyes. Because taurine is not synthesized by our body, we must obtain it from food sources or supplements.
Taurine is found only in animal product. It does not exist in vegetable product.
6 Taurine Food Sources:
- Meat (goat and beef)
- Fish
- Breast Milk
- Milk product
- Sea Food (shrimp, squid, shells)
- Poultry (chicken and duck)
The Dosage of Taurine:
The dosage to consume taurine is between 500mg-2,000mg because it will show efficacy even though the top limit for toxicity is placed at much greater level. Therefore, high dosage of taurine is well-tolerated.
6 Side Effects of Taurine:
- Dehydration.
- Blood lessened.
- Digestive problem.
- The damage in our nerve and brain system.
- Hypoglycaemia.
- Abnormal heart beat.
Contradiction:
- Pregnant women are allowed to take taurine under doctor guidance.
- Bodybuilder should consume taurine supplement under doctor guidance.
The Health Risk of Taurine
Taurine can be produced by our body but it can be found in meat, seafood, fish, and egg. As far as we consume taurine in proper dosage, we do not need other supplement to fulfil the need of non-essential amino acid. Unfortunately, vegetarian might lack of this non-essential amino acid because it is not found in vegetable. Thus, vegetarian sometimes need taurine supplement. However, excessive intake of taurine supplement might cause danger for our health. Fortunately, there is no significant side effects of taurine are reported. If taurine is consumed more than 3.000mg, it is considered safe either for children and adults. If it is excessively consumed, it will be excreted by urine. However, synthetic taurine might be connected with several health conditions.
3 Health Conditions because of Synthetic Taurine:
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Convulsions
We should maintain the health of our eyes since they play crucial tasks for us. Consuming taurine supplement for our eyes is indeed important. However, we should not obey the tips to maintain the health of our eyes.
10 Tips to Maintain Our Eyes Healthy:
1. Eat Fruit and Vegetables.
Carrot is rich of beta carotene which is helpful for maintaining the health of our eyes. This is because beta carotene contains antioxidant that decreases the risk of macula degeneration.
2. Avoid Wearing Contact Lens more than 19 Hours.
Wearing contact lens more than 19 hours will lead to permanent damage for our eyes. Furthermore, do not wear glasses for a long time.
3. Do not Often Use Eye Drops.
Use eye drops only for irritated eyes since using it too much will damage our eyes.
4. Use Cucumber.
Use cucumber to cool our eyes. Put the cold cucumber on top of our eyes for 10 minutes before sleeping at night to prevent them from swollen.
5. Wear Glasses to Protect Our Eyes from UV.
Wear polarized lens to protect our eyes. Wear black lens will not help much in protecting our eyes.
6. Do not Sit Too Long in Front of Computer or Laptop.
For keeping our eyes healthy, try not to sit in front of compuer or laptop too long since it will make our eyes tired.
7. Wear Glasses at the Perfect Time.
Make sure to wear glasses or to protect our eyes when we are close to chemical exposure or dangerous particles.
8. Do not Read Under the Dim Light.
For keeping our eyes healthy, avoid not to read under the dim light since it will make our eyes tense. If our eyes are tired, we should stop for a while and take a rest.
9. Do not See Bright Light Directly.
Avoid to see bright light directly. Focusing our eyes to sun rays will damage our eyes.
10. Train Our Eyes and Make Them Relax.
Try to focus our eyes to see object from distance. Repeat this process many times. Sit down, put our elbows in our hip, close our eyes with our palms. Take away our palms that cover our eyes for ten seconds. Open our eyes and repeat the same activity as needed.
Humans produce their own taurine. Unfortunately, it is not efficient, especially if we grow old. Therefore, we need to boost our taurine levels with supplementation. Based on the benefit it offers, taurine is said as a long-life nutrition. Japanese are considered to have the highest span of age because they consume taurine from meat and seafood. Based on the average omnivora diet (meat and vegetable) provide 58 mg per day. Based on the daily dosage of taurine, 1500 until 3000mg can fulfill the benefit of health more than a day diet.