Taurine is an organic compound that is frequently classified as an amino acid, despite the fact that, unlike most other amino acids, it does not participate in protein synthesis. It serves several functions in the human body and is abundant in several tissues, including the brain, heart, and muscles. According to one study, taurine deficiency, a molecule produced in our bodies, causes aging, and taurine supplements can improve health and increase lifespan in animals.
According to a new study led by Columbia researchers and involving dozens of aging researchers from around the world, taurine deficiency – a nutrient produced in the body and found in many foods – is a driver of aging in animals. The same study also found that taurine supplements can slow down the aging process in worms, mice, and monkeys and can even extend the healthy lifespans of middle-aged mice by up to 12%.
The study was published Science.
“For the last 25 years, scientists have been trying to find factors that not only let us live longer, but also increase healthspan, the time we remain healthy in our old age,” says the study’s leader, Vijay Yadav, PhD, assistant professor of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
“This study suggests that taurine could be an elixir of life within us that helps us live longer and healthier lives.”
No matter the individual, all had increased taurine levels after exercise, which suggests that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from an increase in taurine. Taurine trials for obesity are currently underway, but none are designed to assess a wide range of health parameters.
Vijay Yadav
Anti-aging molecules within us
Over the last two decades, efforts to identify interventions that improve old-age health have accelerated as people have lived longer lives and scientists have discovered that the aging process can be manipulated.
Many studies have discovered that various molecules carried by the bloodstream are linked to aging. It’s less clear whether these molecules actively direct the aging process or are just along for the ride. If a molecule is a driver of aging, restoring it to youthful levels would postpone aging and increase healthspan, or the number of years we live in good health.
Taurine first came to Yadav’s attention during his previous research into osteoporosis, which revealed taurine’s role in bone formation. Other researchers discovered that taurine levels correlated with immune function, obesity, and nervous system functions around the same time.
“We realized that if taurine is regulating all of these processes that decline with age, maybe taurine levels in the bloodstream affect overall health and lifespan,” Yadav says.
Taurine declines with age, supplementation increases lifespan in mice
First, Yadav’s team looked at levels of taurine in the bloodstream of mice, monkeys, and people and found that the taurine abundance decreases substantially with age. In people, taurine levels in 60-year-old individuals were only about one-third of those found in 5-year-olds.
“That’s when we started to wonder if taurine deficiency is a driver of the aging process, and we set up a large mouse experiment,” Yadav says.
The researchers began with nearly 250 14-month-old female and male mice (roughly 45 years old in human terms). The researcher gave half of them a bolus of taurine or a control solution every day. Yadav and his colleagues discovered that taurine increased average lifespan by 12% in female mice and 10% in male mice. That meant three to four extra months for the mice, which equated to about seven or eight human years.
Taurine supplements in middle age improves health in old age
To learn how taurine impacted health, Yadav brought in other aging researchers who investigated the effect of taurine supplementation on the health and lifespan in several species. These experts measured various health parameters in mice and found that at age 2 (60 in human years), animals supplemented with taurine for one year were healthier in almost every way than their untreated counterparts.
The researchers found that taurine suppressed age-associated weight gain in female mice (even in “menopausal” mice), increased energy expenditure, increased bone mass, improved muscle endurance and strength, reduced depression-like and anxious behaviors, reduced insulin resistance, and promoted a younger-looking immune system, among other benefits.
“Not only did we discover that the animals lived longer lives, but we also discovered that they lived healthier lives,” Yadav says.
Taurine improved many cellular functions that typically decline with age: The supplement reduced the number of “zombie cells” (old cells that should die but instead linger and release harmful substances), improved survival after telomerase deficiency, increased the number of stem cells in some tissues (which can help tissues heal after injury), improved mitochondrial performance, reduced DNA damage, and improved the cells’ ability to sense nutrients.
Randomized clinical trial needed
The researchers do not yet know whether taurine supplements will improve human health or increase longevity, but two experiments they conducted indicate taurine has potential.
Yadav and his colleagues looked at the relationship between taurine levels and approximately 50 health parameters in 12,000 European adults aged 60 and up in the first study. People with higher taurine levels were overall healthier, with fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, lower obesity levels, lower hypertension levels, and lower inflammation levels. “These are associations, which do not establish causation,” Yadav says, “but the results are consistent with the possibility that taurine deficiency contributes to human aging.”
The second study investigated whether taurine levels would respond to a known health-improving intervention: exercise. The researchers measured taurine levels before and after a strenuous cycling workout in a variety of male athletes and sedentary individuals and discovered a significant increase in taurine among all groups of athletes (sprinters, endurance runners, and natural bodybuilders) and sedentary individuals.
“No matter the individual, all had increased taurine levels after exercise, which suggests that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from an increase in taurine,” Yadav says.
Only a randomized clinical trial in humans will reveal whether taurine truly has health benefits, according to Yadav. Taurine trials for obesity are currently underway, but none are designed to assess a wide range of health parameters.
