Taurine and feline diabetes

[nepenthe]

I've read a lot about adding Taurine to the diet to help normalize blood sugar levels. The big problem is finding Taurine which doesn't contain rice flour. The capsules I see are typically 500mg and list as extra ingredients gelatin and rice flour.

Do you think the small amount of rice flour in these capsules is enough to adversely effect the cat's diabetes?

Has anyone ever had any success with Taurine?

 

[Blue]

I've read a lot about adding Taurine to the diet to help normalize blood sugar levels. The big problem is finding Taurine which doesn't contain rice flour. The capsules I see are typically 500mg and list as extra ingredients gelatin and rice flour.

Do you think the small amount of rice flour in these capsules is enough to adversely effect the cat's diabetes?

Has anyone ever had any success with Taurine?

I am not clear why you want to add taurine to your cat's diet. Are you making your cat's food at home?

Commercial cat food should have sufficient taurine, and adding a supplement has been mentioned for heart issues.... does your cat have cardiomyopathy?

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pet-he ... -cats/3857

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

...I've read a lot about adding Taurine to the diet to help normalize blood sugar levels. The big problem is finding Taurine which doesn't contain rice flour. The capsules I see are typically 500mg and list as extra ingredients gelatin and rice flour.

Where did you read that? It sounds intriguing...
Did you take the information to mean that too little Taurine affects BG levels adversely? Or that adding extra Taurine helps with regulation...? My understanding is that any excess Taurine is excreted in the cat's urine...

Oh, regarding the rice flour listed as an ingredient, I'm wondering if that is just part of the capsule itself (along with the gelatin)? And - if you were using Taurine (ie to add to a raw food mix) - then you would empty the contents out of the capsule and then discard that..?

Edited to add:
A quick internet search found the following on the 'Tilly Diabetes' site.
http://www.tillydiabetes.net/en_6importantfactors.htm

I've copied some of the content from that page here:

" 6. Taurine
Taurine is a beta-amino acid and is particularly important for cats. Cats are not able to synthesize this amino acid in sufficient quantities and are therefore required to take it up in their food. In healthy cats, a diet deficient in taurine leads to a number of serious clinical problems including retinal degeneration, dilated cardiomyopathy, platelet aggregation, reproductive failure and growth retardation, dysfunction of the central nervous system and impaired immune functioning. Prolonged deficiency over a period of several months or even years is required before clinical symptoms appear in most healthy cats. Supplementing a diabetic cat's diet with taurine would seem to be beneficial, for reasons described in the articles referenced below [Go to link above to find references]

Here the most important points:

• Taurine has been found to affect blood sugar and insulin levels favorably in humans and other animal models.
• Supporting kidney function with taurine: kidney cells do not require insulin to take up glucose. The high plasma glucose levels caused by diabetes result in high intracellular levels of glucose. Via a chain of events this leads to a decrease in the taurine quantity in kidney cells. Organic osmolytes - such as taurine - play an important role in the regulation of cell volume.
• The clinical state of diabetes is often accompanied by elevated blood levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and free fatty acids. Taurine is important for the formation of bile acids. The formation of bile acids represents the most important route for the elimination of cholesterol. Too little bile acid can entail increased cholesterol values. In studies of diabetic rats, taurine also lowered plasma triglyceride values. As many diabetic cats have elevated cholesterol and triglyceride values, taurine may help to lower them. Additionally, according to the lipotoxicity hypothesis, chronic exposure to high concentrations of lipids contribute to deteriorating beta-cell function in diabetic patients.
• Taurine has been shown to reverse neurological damage in diabetic rats.

A typical quantity of taurine that many people give their diabetic cats is 500 mg per day. No scientific studies were found to support this dosage in cats and the guidelines used by the pet food industry vary widely."

 

[squeem3]

Insulin is how a body naturally regulates blood glucose levels, even in cats. Diabetics need diet and insulin injections to help their body regulated blood glucose levels because the pancrease doesn't make enough or any natural insulin. I don't see how taurine or any other of those supplements marketed for diabetics will work confused_cat

Commercial canned cat food that is nutrionally complete will have adequate levels of taurine to prevent health conditions associated with taurine deficieny, such as blindness. Adding extra taurine doesn't make the food any better nutritionally for a cat.

Some homemade raw recipies list taurine as an ingredient. Dr. Lisa's recipie at Catinfo.org does and recommends this particular brand: http://www.iherb.com/source-naturals-taurine-powder-3-53-oz-100-g/1427?at=0 It's a powder and doesn't contain grains or sugars.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

...Commercial canned cat food that is nutrionally complete will have adequate levels of taurine to prevent health conditions associated with taurine deficieny, such as blindness. Adding extra taurine doesn't make the food any better nutritionally for a cat.

I've always 'assumed' that commercial cat foods contain sufficient taurine, but somehow this thread has made me curious about whether that actually is the case...

Anyway, I've done a bit of internet searching and have come across this interesting thread from the UK Petforums site. It includes links to a study that was done to find out how processing meat reduces the availability of taurine.
http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-nutrition/99294-taurine-cats.html

I do find this subject particularly interesting, for the following reason. A few months ago I changed Bertie's diet. He'd been eating low carb canned food, typical mid-priced stuff available from every supermarket. Then I wondered if maybe I could upgrade his diet and feed him something better. So I switched to premium brands with higher real meat content, and those which had, according to the label analysis, slightly lower carb content than what I'd been feeding. I also started supplementing with a small amount of raw food.

Bertie's BG numbers are usually awful once the autumn sets in. But during the couple of weeks after upgrading the food Bertie's blood glucose levels dropped and dropped... The effect has been dramatic... I'd assumed it was the very slightly lower carb content of the food, but now I'm wondering if the better quality foods have more available taurine in them as well.... Maybe this is completely 'off the wall', but I certainly am curious....

 

[nepenthe]

The site where I read about Taurine is the link Elizabeth posted above. Then I came across other sites which seem to say the same thing, that commercial foods might not have enough.

My cat just has diabetes and the very early stages of renal disease (his kidneys show some signs of that on an ultrasound last week, although his urea and creatinine values are normal). I am going to put him on N-acetylcysteine like I did my other cat with CRF, and he has been at IRIS stage 2 since spring 09, thanks to a canned-only diet and 250mg of N-acetylcysteine daily.

I am going to try the tauine to see if it might improve insulin sensitivity. If anything it will help to protect against vision damage from the DM.

 

[squeem3]

I've always 'assumed' that commercial cat foods contain sufficient taurine, but somehow this thread has made me curious about whether that actually is the case...

Supplement only canned/pouch/tray cat foods obviously won't have any essential vitamins or minerals in them.

In the US, AAFCO sets a minimum of 0.10% taurine in dry foods and 0.20% in canned foods.

 

[nepenthe]

There is some speculation that the RDA requirements for Taurine in commercial cats could be too low. Add to that, the processing/cooking process could degrade some of it.

Here is one of several studies suggestive of Taurine being of use to diabetics with CRF. Diabetics with kidney issues usually end up with this business of "diabetic nephropathy", which is some precursor to CRF - something which diabetic cats are especially prone to.

Preventive effect of taurine on experimental type II diabetic nephropathy

Taurine and the renal system

and another, suggesting that Taurine is even more effective when added to n-acetylcysteine, a cheap amino acid which has proven renal-protective benefits:

Comparative Trial of N-Acetyl-Cysteine, Taurine, and Oxerutin on Skin and Kidney Damage in Long-Term Experimental Diabetes