"TAURINE IS A SAVIOR FOR THE GALL BLADDER"

I was reviewing Bill Sardi's e-book on gallbladder tonight when I came across this fact.  He says

Cholesterol gallstones are associated with fatty liver (non-alcoholic). The surgical removal of the gall bladder (cholecystectomy) is a risk factor for fatty liver. This gives rise to the importance of tactics to dissolve gallstones and preserve the gall bladder as surgical removal of this organ only represents disease substitution, not disease resolution. 

This information does two things for me.  One, it vindicates me in warning a friend of mine NOT to remove her gallbladder.  There was a cancerous growth on her gall bladder, and so her doctor recommended its removal.  She was of the mind to remove any diseased condition or state rather than use supplements to assist her body's destruction and removal of a tumor.  I don't know whose advice she was guided by--her doctor's, her father's, her coworkers--I have no idea.  But she would not listen to me, and so she ended up having her gallbladder removed.  I warned her that it was a major organ.  And this information bears that out.  But her preference for surgery scared me.  I'd wished I'd known then what I've learned since reading Sardi's e-book.  He cites one nutritional compound called D-limonene as an alternative to gall bladder removal.  

D-limonene is a dietary supplement known as a cholesterol controlling agent. It is derived from citrus peel. Over two decades ago it was shown to be an effective alternative to gall bladder surgery. [Am J Digestive Diseases 21: 926-39, 1976] Dlimonene was confirmed 15 years later as an effective alternative to gall bladder surgery. [Gastroenterology Japan 27: 536-45, 1992]

Two, I've learned of the serious consequences of having the gallbladder removed: fatty liver, the same condition that alcoholics suffer from.  This friend of mine died from liver cancer.  She went the chemotherapy route.  Surgical removal of the gallbladder also increases cholesterol levels.  So there's little good that can come of its removal.   

To maintain a healthy gallbladder and to prevent gallstones, one should take daily amounts of vitamin C.  

In an amazing study, 16 patients scheduled for gall bladder surgery were given 500 mg of vitamin C four times a day (2000 mg total per day), and this raised the natural production of ursodeoxycholic acid, the natural chemical in the body that helps to prevent gall stones. [European J Clinical Investigation 27: 387-91, 1997] Human studies confirm that people with low circulating levels of vitamin C have a greater risk to develop gallstones. [Archives Internal Medicine 160: 931-36, 2000] 

SAMe looks like the preferred compound for pregnant women.  

S-adenosymmethionine (SAMe) is a dietary supplement that has been used to successfully dissolve gallstones during pregnancy. [British J Obstetrics Gynecology 105: 1205-07, 1998] 

Taurine as the savior of the gall bladder?  That's what Sardi says.  In fact, nowhere else with any other nutritional compound does he make that claim.  Let's see why.  

Taurine is a savior for the gall bladder. It is an amino acid that is the chief among dietary supplements for gallstones. It’s easy to see why. Taurine is required to produce bile. [J Nutrition Science Vitaminology 33: 239-43, 1987] Supplemental taurine can improve bile flow and thus keep the bile thin enough to prevent stone formation. In one animal experiment, 71 percent of rodents fed cholesterol developed gallstones. When the tissue taurine level in these cholesterol-fed animals was chemically reduced the number of animals that developed gall stones rose from 71 to 100 percent! But when these same animals were provided with supplemental taurine the formation of cholesterol gallstones dropped to zero! [Life Science 74: 1889-98, 2004] 

In fact, the subheading for the section on Taurine, he puts in parentheses (zero gallstones).  So there's that.