Jeff,

> I’m wondering why you didn’t include Nori or dark chocolate or green tea as potential sources to consider.

I’m not seeing any evidence to back these claims up. If you have some, let us know.

> And why didn’t you mention whole plant foods that are high in cysteine that help the body synthesize taurine?

I’m not aware of evidence that vegans increasing cysteine intakes beyond their typical levels will result in higher taurine synthesis. I didn’t find any studies on vegans but it’s possible there are some on people with cysteine intakes similar to vegans. If you know of any, let me know.

What about seaweeds like nori and dulse? If you look it up, you’ll see that 100 grams of nori has 1300 mg of taurine. That means if you eat 20-30 grams of nori a day, you could get 260-390 mg of taurine a day. It would not be difficult to eat that much nori every day or a few days a week. I also read that dulse has 300 mg of taurine in one serving, but it didn’t say how many grams of dulse was a serving.

I’m curious if this will help me, what amount l carnitine do you take daily?

Forest,
In the study you cite, the amounts of taurine in plant foods were measured in nmoles/g which is 1,000 times less than how it was measured in animal products (µmoles/g). The amounts of taurine they found in plant foods are physiologically insignificant.

You can get taurine and carnitine on a vegan diet.

Carnitine is found in tempeh which still has significant amounts (20 mg/100 g) compared to non-vegan foods like pork (28 mg/100 g). It’s also a myth that taurine is not found in any plants.

There has been investigation into this. A paper was published Taurine content in foods January 1989Nutrition Reports International 40(4):793-801. The paper found that

“Pumpkin seeds contain 13.5 nmoles/g, black beans 9.2 nmoles/g, horse beans 12.9, and chick peas 18.7 nmoles/g. No taurine was detected in peanuts. Almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, and pine nuts contained taurine in concentrations ranging 15-46 nmoles/g.”

Also energy drinks like red bull have a high amount of taurine and they are vegan drinks because they use no animal products. I am not saying energy drinks are healthy but they are a good source of taurine.

Thank you, Lori. That’s really interesting (and great!) that it has helped you. It seems plausible that individuals have somewhat different needs for nutrients. I’m so glad you have a smart rheumatologist. thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Hi Marian,
The rheum I see has experience with carnitine deficiencies (maybe it happens more frequently in patients with autoimmune diseases…?), and suggested a dosage for me based on my blood level. We were just hoping that it would be the answer to my fatigue, and it seems to work (when I get lazy and forget to take it, I definitely notice my fatigue coming back). I get my levels re-checked once a year. I take NOW brand L-Carnitine (1000mg) 3x/week. Hope this helps!

Lori, Thanks so much for relaying your experience. Would you be willing to say what form of carnitine you take and the dosage. I wonder how your rheumatologist knew your lower blood levels of carnitine meant you had a true deficiency and needed more. A lot of blood levels of nutrients in vegans may be different than carnivores, but it’s not usually considered a problem. In most cases, it seems safe enough to give a supplement a try for awhile and see how we do. Did you try going on and off the carnitine a couple times to verify its effect? I think a lot of medical professionals aren’t very knowledgeable about how diet may be affecting their patients.