"While any intervention has risks," Baur said via e-mail, "small clinical trials have already been conducted for taurine with little evidence of any undesirable side effects." What the study found "We do need to see whether that's actually happening in humans at these doses," he said.Ĭlinical trials will have to determine the most appropriate dosage, McGaunn said, and whether people should start taking taurine only after a certain age or when levels in their bloodstream fall below a certain, as yet undetermined, threshold. (Though they did find health problems from the high caffeine levels and from mixing vodka with these drinks, Wackerhage noted.)Īnimal studies have shown that taurine may change bone structure and interact with sex and growth hormone pathways, McGaunn said. Some people drink as many as eight to 12 energy drinks a day – as much as two times the highest level of taurine tested in mice – with no sign that the taurine caused health problems, according to research by the European Food Safety Authority. Taurine hasn't been extensively studied for safety in people, but it has been added to energy drinks for decades with no evidence of negative health effects, Wackerhage said. The question is how much, if any, is the right amount to produce anti-aging benefits in people. "Your body has it already, Wackerhage said. Wackerhage said people shouldn't assume they will get any benefit from the taurine in an energy drink. There, though the levels are high – three to six drinks contain as much as was tested on mice – other ingredients such as caffeine, might have different or contradictory effects. Taurine is also included in many energy drinks. Eating too much meat can have negative health effects and many vegetarians live long, healthy lives, he noted. It's not easy or advisable to eat animal products to supplement taurine to the levels used in research, Yadav said. The gut absorbs the molecule and then distributes it to different organs. People also get taurine by eating animal products, particularly shellfish, Yadav said. Natural levels are five times higher during fetal development than after birth and drop across the lifespan for unknown reasons, he said.īy the time someone is in their 60s, their taurine production is about 80% lower than in childhood. "These mice, when they are on taurine, seem to be younger." Its broad effects in animals across organ systems are "almost too good to be true," Wackerhage said in a joint Tuesday call with media. It's still unclear how taurine might help slow aging, but it seems to have a positive effect on many hallmarks of aging at the cellular level, said Vijay Yadav, an assistant professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who helped lead the research. student who co-wrote the perspective with Baur. It is involved in many biological processes, from helping absorb fats, to controlling a cell's volume to ensuring proper protein production in the mitochondria that power every cell, said Joseph McGaunn, a Penn MD/Ph.D. Taurine is produced by the human body, mostly in the liver. "I see it becoming one of the highest priority molecules for human testing," said Joseph Baur, who was not involved in the new study, but wrote an accompanying perspective article and is a professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. Still, other researchers are enthusiastic about the findings. To figure that out will take a large, yearslong, very expensive clinical trial giving some people taurine and others a placebo. Once we have a human intervention trial, we will know whether there's a fire or not," said Wackerhage, adding that neither he nor any of the study's authors received any funding from producers of taurine or related products. What's not yet clear is whether taking taurine supplements will make any difference for human health or lifespan. "Taurine somehow seems to hit the engine room of aging," said Henning Wackerhage, a co-author and professor of exercise biology at the Technical University of Munich. Middle-aged monkeys, too, lived healthier lives for longer after receiving taurine supplements, according to the study, published Thursday in the journal " Science". Older mice whose levels of taurine are "topped back up" to youthful levels lived 10% to 12% longer and were healthier, leaner, had denser bones and were less likely to be depressed. The study also looked at a group of 12,000 people and showed that those with low taurine levels were more likely to be ill. Levels of taurine, which are made in the body and eaten in food, naturally decline with age. The amino acid taurine appears to improve health and extend the lifespan of worms, mice and monkeys, according to a new study, though further research is needed to confirm whether it can do the same in people.
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