Nutritional Requirement for Taurine in Patients Receiving Long-Term Parenteral Nutrition

Abstract
Animals fed diets lacking the amino acid taurine have low plasma and tissue levels of taurine and ultimately have retinal dysfunction. Since parenteral nutrition does not ordinarily provide taurine, we looked for evidence of taurine deficiency in 21 children and 23 adults undergoing long-term parenteral nutrition at home for an average of 27±23 (S.D.) months.