Many of us take supplements regularly to boost our workout performance, to protect ourselves from certain long-term conditions, or to make up for natural deficiencies in one compound or another. Taurine is one of the most well-known and celebrated supplementary compounds, but is it worth it?
Let’s take a closer look at taurine supplementation and all of its benefits, as well as investigate its potential side effects, so you’ll know whether it’s a good addition to your routine.
What is Taurine?
Put simply, taurine is a type of amino acid. While you can get taurine in many of your foods, you’ll also find it commonly added to energy drinks (a bad idea by the way) and other supplements. That’s because it can provide your body with a number of benefits such as boosting athletic performance, and may be able to enhance the effects of other supplementary ingredients.
Where Do You Get Taurine?
Taurine is naturally produced by your body. As a key type of amino sulfonic acid, you can find high concentrations of taurine in your muscles, heart, eyes, and even your brain. But unlike the majority of other amino acids, taurine is an essential amino acid used for purposes other than protein production.
Furthermore, taurine can be found in various foods and supplements. Primary sources for taurine include animal foods like:
Dairy products such as milk and cheese
Most types of fish
Lots of meats like beef and chicken
The average American diet includes between 40 and 400 mg of taurine each day. Certain studies used to show the beneficial effects of taurine typically provide participants with between 400 and 6,000 mg per day.
Taurine Benefits
Taurine is a widely sought-after supplementary ingredient due to its effects throughout your body. It’s specifically used to:
Help your body create bile salts, assisting with digestion
Ensure that the human body’s cells are balanced with electrolytes and hydration
Regulate the effects of minerals like calcium
Support the function of your eyes and nervous system
Help maintain healthy immune system function
Your body will normally produce the necessary amount of taurine for all of these functions. But you may sometimes require additional taurine to treat certain conditions or if your body doesn’t produce enough naturally.
Blood Sugar Defense
Taurine may be able to provide some assistance with the regulation and control of normal blood sugar levels through its effects on blood sugar. Indeed, there’s animal research that suggests that upping your intake of taurine may help to prevent the symptoms of high blood sugar.
This is supported by the fact that most people with high blood sugar also have lower levels of taurine.
Supported Heart Health
Furthermore, taurine may be able to support heart health.
Taurine can play a role in helping to maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure: two major factors that lead to a higher likelihood of congestive heart failure. That may be because taurine can support high blood pressure and the resistance of blood flow through certain blood vessel walls.
Furthermore, taurine may be able to minimize certain signals from the brain that can increase your blood pressure under specific circumstances or stresses.
Exercise Booster
If you want to make the most of your exercise efforts, it might be beneficial to increase your taurine intake. That’s because taurine may help your muscles to work for longer and harder throughout a workout, as taurine can increase how well your muscles can contract and produce force.
Furthermore, taurine might be able to help remove high levels of waste products that can lead to muscle fatigue and burn. This provides an ancillary benefit in that it protects your muscle cells from certain types of damage via oxidative stress.
Additional Benefits
There are other possible health benefits you might get from taking taurine supplements or increasing your taurine intake through your diet. These may include:
Support to your eyesight and hearing, particularly if you have a deficiency in those areas already
Defend your liver cells from free radical molecular damage and certain types of toxin damage
While taurine may be able to help in a truly staggering array of ways, it’s not perfect. Taurine is not a replacement for a healthy diet overall and should only be taken in recommended supplementary amounts.
Potential Taurine Side Effects
There’s some great news, too – so long as you take taurine in the recommended amounts (whether it’s for supplements or through your diet), you shouldn’t need to worry about any adverse effects.
This being said, sometimes people try to drink too many energy drinks containing caffeine and taurine in an attempt to boost their exercise results and increase bodily health. It’s never a good idea to drink too many beverages with taurine and other supplementary vitamins and minerals, as this can lead to serious issues and even signs of poisoning such as increased heart rate or arrhythmias.
In addition, amino acid-based supplements can sometimes cause problems for individuals who already have existing kidney conditions. Your kidneys may have difficulty filtering out excess taurine if you consume too much.
Summary
With all this in mind, it’s clearer than ever that taurine can be a great help provided that you take it appropriately and choose the right supplement for the job.
