Extraordinary effects of taurine for sportsmen you definitely had no idea about

Have you heard about taurine yet? This unpretentious element has more positive effects than you think. It is organic acid consisting of sulfur which can be missed within sportsmen and people who don’t consume meat and seafood. It has special benefits for health support, muscle mass regeneration, performance increase or fat burning. Read the reasons why you should consider the taurine supplementation. 

What is taurine?

Taurin is organic acid containing sulfur which is known under the chemical name beta-aminoethanesulfonic acid. It is produced from methionine and cysteine and is found in the majority of tissues, such as in brain, retina, heart or in the muscle tissue. The name taurine is derived from the Latin word bull – Taurus because it was first discovered in the bladder gland. [1] [2]

Taurin is produced in the body by biosynthesis process or is made industrially, by means of chemical reactions. In the body, taurin is produced in the pancreas and in testicles of the adults. Taurin doesn’t store in the organism and its natural production is not too high, that’s why we also encounter the denotation of taurine as essential amino acid. It serves mostly for support of heart and the whole cardiovascular system, it also has many other health benefits. [1] It influences development and protection of the cells, immune system and controls several important biological processes in the body. These benefits can be supported more by taurine supplementation. That’s why scientists developed chemical synthesis in order to enable the increase of taurine level in the body with the help of supplements. [4]

Supplementation of taurine is necessary, for example within newborns, who don’t have the ability to synthesize taurine. Babies receive taurin in the form of breast milk. The breast milk contains more taurine than, for example cow milk, and taurin is the part of the nutrition for babies which are not breastfed. [3] With the growing age, the production of taurine is getting worse. [12]

Some people have to supply taurin in order to support their health at diseases of heart, high blood pressure or cholesterol, cystic fibrosis or disorders of liver and kidneys. These individuals don’t have to synthetize the sufficient amount of taurine naturally in consequence of disease or are not able to maintain its level in the body. 

The supplementation of taurin brings other benefits to people with seizures, autism, epilepsy or with attention deficit disorder known as ADHD. It is also used by patients with vision problems, diabetes or mental disorders. [3]

The sportsmen receive taurin as supplement for regeneration of the muscles and improvement of their function. Besides that, taurine can help them with reduction of fat deposits and also with reducing the side effects of fat burners, such as cramps when consuming synephrine. [3]

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Taurine sources

The main source of taurine for people is nutrition since its production in the body is very low. That’s why the need of supplementation is narrowly related to eating regime. Among the natural sources of taurine belongs [12]:

• meat
• seafood – oysters, seashells and shrimps
• seaweed 

This implies that mostly vegetarians and vegans are suffering the lack of taurine. According to the research, the average daily receive of taurine from food is as following [12]:

• within  “carnivorous” people – 123 mg
• vegetarians who eat eggs and milk products – 17 mg
• vegans – 0 mg

The level of taurine in breast milk is dependent upon the mother’s lifestyle. Women who receive any nutrition, have 1,5 times more taurine in the milk than mothers vegetarians have. [13]

The benefits of taurine for sportsmen

The effects of taurine for performance of sportsmen lie in its ability to reduce muscle damage and to reduce tiredness and soreness. At the same time, the supplementation of taurine supports weight loss because it uses fat as source of fuel. In the following lines, we will analyse the individual taurine benefits at physical activity and sport.

1. It helps to regenerate muscle pain

Supplementation of taurin can be an effective weapon in the fight against soreness and muscle damage. The study confirmed that supplementation of taurine in amount of 2 g in combination with 3,2 g of BCAAs (three times a day) helped to reduce muscle pain within testing group. This research was performed on the groups which were receiving combination of taurine with amino acids with branched chain BCAA (or placebo) two weeks before highly intensive training and 4 days after it. The combination of taurin and BCAA seemed to be the most effective at the fight with damaged muscles in contrast to single BCAAs or taurin. [23]

At the same time, another study supported theory that taurin can reduce muscle damage. The participants of the research who were training with weight lifting, had less markers of muscle damage and weaker soreness after using taurine. [33]

4.1. It serves as antioxidant

The same as the rest of the antioxidants, taurin eliminates harmful oxidants and by this, it protects the tissue from damage [16] By the means of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, taurin protect the body from the unnecessary death of the cells or damage of the tissue. [15] The study confirmed that tissues exposed to oxidative damage, have notably high taurin values. [14] 

The immune system of the organism works the way that white blood cells produce oxidants such as chloric acid or bromic acid in order to damage microorganisms and fight with infections. However, oxidants damages the walls of the cells. [17]

Taurin can transform these oxidants into less harmful taurine chloramine (TauCl) and taurin bromine (TauBr) which are able to reduce the oxidant production.[18] [19]  At the same time, taurine increases production and activity of other antioxidants occuring in the body. [20]

4.2. It reduces inflammations

The mentioned compounds taurine chloramine and taurine bromine have the anti-inflammatory effects. [26] Supplementation by taurine increases the production of TauCl and TauBr in the body which can be effective at treatment of acute inflammations. [27] High concentration of TauCl in the human cells helped to reduce inflammatory cytokines. [29]

Reduced production of TauCl in the body can worsen damages of the joints related to inflammation at rheumatic arthritis. [28]

4.3. It prevents from infections

TauCl and TauBr have the ability to kill a wide range of bacteria, fungi such as yeasts and molds, viruses and parasites. [34] [35] Both compounds are promising at treatment of infections such as chronic sinusitis, inflammation of the middle ear, acne and gum diseases.[15] [37] Supplementation by taurine can support production of TauCl and TauBr in the body and by this, it contributes to overall immunity of the organism. [15]

Taurolidin, another derivative of taurine, is commonly used in Europe and USA for reduction of various infections. [36]

5. Taurin and longevity

On the example of Japanese who receive taurine in high amounts from seafood, there is consideration about its impact on longevity. We can partly confirm it on the basis of proven health benefits of taurine on the heart and the overall immunity. [31] [32]

The health benefits of taurine:

Taurin has its irreplaceable place in the human body. Besides already mentioned benefits for sportsmen, it has many health benefits such as [1] [6]:

• it protects the heart function and by this, it serves as prevention of heart diseases, such as stroke
• it can help to regulate cholesterol level
• it serves as hypertension prevention
• is important at reproduction because it influences the amount and quality of sperms 
• it supports function of liver and kidneys
• it protects the health of eyes
• it serves as protection of dry and cracked skin
• reduces anemia 
• it can relieve from depression
• it helps to improve memory and learning
• it can help at cystic fibrosis, epilepsy or ADHD syndrome
• is effective at cancer treatment
• it supports treatment of diabetes

The recommended daily dose of taurine

The sufficient amount of taurin will be provided by dose from 500 – 2000 mg daily. Maximum dose should reach around 3 grams daily, even though there are no proven side effects at the overdose by taurin. [8] It happens because the redundancy of taurine is excreted by urine or form of gall. [5] [7] Taurin usually acts diuretic when there is excessive consumption. [9]

Pregnant women and people with bipolar disorder should consult a doctor about using taurin. There hasn’t been sufficient amount of researches which would prove that taurine is safe for them. [6]  

For whom is the supplementation necessary?

As we already mentioned, taurin can be produced in the body but not in sufficient amount. Some groups of people who don’t receive the sufficient amount of taurine by food or they need to support taurine benefits, should consider its supplementation. These people are [6]:

• strict vegans or vegetarians
• sportsmen who want to support their physical performance
• people suffering diseases
• people who want to protect their health preventively

The lack of taurine

Besides mentioned groups of poeple who should consider the supplementation of taurine, there are other cases of people who are endangered by its lack. There are many factors which can be the reason of the low taurine level in the body. Some diseases such as diabetes, cancer, liver disorders and kidney disorders can exhaust taurin in increased amount. Its lack can be influenced by [18]:

• low levels of cysteine and methionine
• small amount of vitamin A, zinc and substance  pyridoxal-5-phosphate which is the active form of vitamin B6
• excessive receive of food containing sodium glutamate which can deactivate the effects of taurine
• yeast infections which increase taurine excretion in urine
• ageing

Also in these cases, the specialists recommend to increase taurine receive in order to prevent unpleasant health problems.

Taurine in energy drinks

At the end one interesting thing. Maybe you have heard that some popular energy drinks contain taurine. People mistakenly think it is harmful substance or stimulant. It is not true at all. It is filled into content of these drinks because it can effectively reduce the side effects of caffeine (heartbeat, nervosity, anxiety) and at the same time, the small amount of taurine supports caffeine effect of reducing tiredness. [10] The synthetic compound of taurin made in laboratories is used in energy drinks in order to be suitable for vegetarians and vegans. [2] Another reason why synthetic taurine is used in supplements and cosmetics is that it’s economically more beneficial than to extract it from natural sources. [4]

High caffeine and sugar content in energy drinks reduce health benefits of taurine, in general, energy drinks are not healthy drinks for energizing or supplying with energy. [11]

Do you use taurin too? Share your experiences with taurin in the comments. If you like the article, support it by sharing.

Sources:

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[2] Natures food patch - Taurine – http://www.naturesfoodpatch.com

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[10] Fang Ju Lin, Michael M Pierce, Amita Sehgal, Tianyi Wu, Daniel C Skipper, Radhika Chabba - Effect of taurine and caffeine on sleep-wake activity in Drosophila melanogaster – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3630960/

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