Taurine supplementation in mice increased their lifespan by about 10-25%, depending on how it was measured. The authors addressed this by supplementation of taurine in mice. But it is not known whether taurine affects aging. In humans, taurine levels are associated with aging-related diseases. Taurine levels are associated with health. Taurine, one of the most abundant "amino acids" in the blood, decreases with age in mice, monkeys, and humans. The lead author, Vijay K. Yadav, assistant professor of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons is joined by 53 (!) co-authors in a long and highly complex paper. Within the past few weeks, taurine has been in the news as a potential anti-aging chemical, stemming from a recent article in Science. (R) Taurine, an aminosulfonic acid, is neither, although it contains both an amino group and an acidic group. (C) beta-alanine, an isomer of alanine, is a non-proteogenic amino acid. (L) Alanine is one of the 20 proteogenic amino acids All 20 differ by the substituent on the alpha-carbon. So, in reality, calling taurine an amino acid is actually two errors in one small molecule.įigure 2. But even if you could magically convert taurine (Figure 2, Left) into its carbon analog beta-alanine (Center), it still would not technically be an amino acid in the strictest sense of the word because that term is typically reserved for proteogenic amino acids beta-alanine isn't one. Taurine doesn't fit the generic structure because it is an aminosulfonic acid, where sulfur (in the sulfonic acid oxidation state) replaces carbon. (Right) Two non-proteogenic (but biologically important) amino acids. The yellow arrows indicate the alpha-carbon (same location as R in the figure on the left). (Center) Two of the 20 proteogenic (used to make proteins) amino acids. They differ only by the pink "R" groups - 20 of them. (Left) The generic structure for all 20 amino acids that form proteins. But if you're chemically liberal you can expand this definition by including any molecule, naturally occurring or not, that contains both an amino group and a carboxylic acid, (Figure 1, Right).įigure 1. 
Why is this wrong? For starters, the term "amino acid" is typically used to denote one of the 20 building blocks of proteins (Figure 1, Left, Center). "Taurine is an abundant amino acid in the brain" (NIH - Ouch!)."Taurine, an amino acid often used by bodybuilders" (CNN)."Taurine is an essential amino acid for babies" (University of Rochester)."Taurine is an amino acid that has a few important roles in your body" (Healthline).The Internet gets this wrong right and left. Or the other way around.īut an article on one supplement, taurine, recently caught my attention because (and let's not get ahead of ourselves) there were some interesting tidbits. Miller and I are like-minded regarding the absurdity of supplement regulations, something which should be clear from the 2019 op-ed we co-authored together, as well as his more recent article.ĭr. Henry Miller (and his Bedlington terrier, Cracker). Since then, ACSH has had the good fortune to be joined by the awesome Dr. I urge all herbal supplements manufacturers and retailers to join GNC in working with my office to increase transparency and put the safety of their customers first.” Without tests and safeguards, including those that rule out dangerous allergens, these supplements pose unacceptable risks to New York families.
“When it comes to consumer health, we expect companies to reach a high safety bar. Schneiderman quoted three physicians and me in a press release about the agreement the state reached with supplements giant GNC forcing the company to clean up its act. So much so that in 2015 New York Attorney General Eric T. Anyone who has had the sick, masochistic obsession pleasure of reading my stuff over the years knows quite well that I am not a fan of dietary supplements.
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