Taurine: No Bull Amino Acid by Jerry Brainum 1/24

 

 

If you've ever consumed an energy drink like "Red Bull," you've ingested taurine. Taurine is added to energy drinks because it's thought to offset the excessive stimulation that can occur because of the drinks' caffeine content. The average taurine content of energy drinks is about 700 milligrams, which isn't bad but is still a low amino acid dose. Unlike essential amino acids, taurine is not involved in muscle protein synthesis, but this doesn't mean that it cannot provide a few possible anabolic effects. Red Bull is so-named because of its taurine content since the word "taurine" is derived from the Latin word for bull, Taurus. Taurine was first named by German scientists who discovered it back in 1827. Since they isolated it from ox bile, they named it taurine. Despite not being an essential amino acid, it is the second most abundant amino acid in the human body, with glutamine being the first. The reason why it's considered unessential is that it can be synthesized in the body from another amino acid, cysteine. Similar to cysteine, taurine is a sulfur-based amino acid.  

If you have a cat as a pet, you might have noticed that taurine is always listed on the ingredient label of cat food. For cats, taurine is essential; if they are deficient, they become blind and get heart disease. Humans can synthesize small amounts of taurine but are rarely deficient in it because it's retained in humans more efficiently than animals. Taurine is involved in several essential health processes in the body; among other functions, it's required to produce bile. As noted earlier, taurine was first isolated from ox bile. Bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Bile is released from the gallbladder when fat is consumed to help emulsify large fat globules and make them more amenable to digestion by lipases or fat-digesting enzymes. If mice are deprived of taurine, their capacity to exercise decreases by 80%. Although this effect is not seen in humans, some research does suggest that supplemental taurine can provide ergogenic effects. The research related to taurine and sports shows that it has more of an effect on endurance exercise or sports. That's because taurine concentrates in the "endurance" or slow-twitch muscle fibers. 

Some studies that compared the health benefits of supplemental omega-3 fat from fish oil to fish found that the fish appeared to offer benefits beyond that of fish oil alone. What are the secret ingredients in fish that supply these benefits? Fish is the richest natural source of taurine, and the presence of taurine in fish likely explains the benefits of fish that aren't found with fish oil alone. Indeed, the best food sources of taurine are animal protein foods . . .