Taurine, which is a unique amino acid, can have beneficial effects on your wellness, especially regarding athletic performance. 

The amino acid bears significance in the human body, affecting immune health, cellular functions, and the operations of your central nervous system. It’s a conditionally essential type of amino acid, which means your body can build minimal quantities for daily living. But, when you’re stressed or you get sick, you may require additional amounts, as your body can only produce a small amount on its own. 

You’ve likely encountered mentions of taurine if you’re a fitness enthusiast. It’s frequently touted as a sports aid to help upgrade physical exertions, endurance and strength. Below, the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre (TFMC) discusses the nutrient’s impact on gym endeavors and overall health. 

Taurine’s Potential Effects on Athletic Performance

Various medical journals have discussed its promising effects on physical performances. Actually, “…taurine supplementation has been shown to improve the exercise capacity of patients with heart failure, which is likely due to improvement of the myocardial energy production,” confirms a Molecules article.  

High concentrations are found in skeletal muscle and may help reduce oxidative stress in the body. But intense physical exertions can heighten the formation of oxidative stress and promote tissue damage. It’s been thought that targeting taurine deficits brought on by workouts could promote positive effects on physical prowess and muscle recovery. 

In one study on men 18-20 years of age, participants were given taurine supplements for seven days. The results implied that taurine could lessen DNA damage from exercise and protect cellular functioning from oxidative damage: “After supplementation, the change in taurine concentration showed positive correlations with the changes in exercise time to exhaustion and maximal workload,” explains an article from Amino Acids. 

Though taurine could theoretically improve physical activity, some scientists stress the importance of seeing a healthcare provider for personal supplement dosages, especially for fitness health goals. This is because people have differences in duration and levels of training, as well as unique genetics and methods of recovery. 

Other Beneficial Effects as a Supplement

Next to affecting physical activity, taurine supplementation could foster anti-aging effects on a cellular level, while protecting against pathologies linked to metabolism, cancers, neurological concerns, and heart disease. Here are some health benefits that could come with taking taurine as a supplement:   

• • May potentially help manage chronic periodontitis: Taurine contains antioxidant properties. Due to this, it’s been insinuated that taurine can reduce oxidative stress linked to oral health concerns, such as periodontitis.
  • Could offer improvements to heart health: The amino acid contains anti-inflammatory components and may help with managing blood pressure regulation; when supplemented at high dosages, studies have shown it can also help protect cardiovascular functions.  
  • May reduce risks for diabetes: Type 1 and 2 diabetes are both linked to a taurine nutritional deficiency. “Because taurine depletion causes an increase in platelet sensitivity to aggregation, it has been hypothesized that taurine supplementation can prevent platelet aggregation in diabetic patients,” confirms an Amino Acids journal article. 

A medley of amino acids, including taurine, could play a critical role in your health journey. If you’re considering adding taurine, glutamic acid, or other amino acids to your regimen (i.e. branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) that include leucine, isoleucine and valine), please reach out to our functional medicine practitioners. We can personalize your treatment plan with oral supplementation and adjuvant IV doses of vitamins to help you reach optimal health.

Suggested Reading: Top 8 Health Benefits of Zinc from Our IV Therapy Toronto Lounge   

About the TFMC’s IV Lounge

Our functional medicine practice and IV Lounge are designed to meet your unique health needs! 

We recognize that each individual patient has disparate needs. By tailoring your treatment service, we can focus on your health concerns by understanding their root causes. In turn, we can help alleviate symptoms and potentially prevent or delay additional chronic health concerns. Our functional medicine therapy providers can adapt treatments for a range of concerns linked to brain fog, muscle function, cellular damage, chronic fatigue, liver detoxification, food sensitivities, autoimmune diseases, hormonal imbalances, fertility treatments, effects of chemotherapy, and more. 

Vitamin IV therapy (intravenous infusion drips) are administered in our IV Lounge, and they can be added to your treatment plan for supportive measures only. This treatment service is designed as an adjunct therapy that’s administered along with your regular oral supplementation, healthy daily living, and other treatment modalities. Dosages are customized in accordance with the integrative functional medicine model, which focuses on diagnosis and treatment for your biological needs only. 

Our menu consists of plentiful natural ingredients (without added preservatives!), including vitamin C/ascorbic acid, vitamin A, vitamin E, folic acid, major minerals, major antioxidants, alpha lipoic acid, and more. A custom-made IV drip for specific goals can be compounded, too, such as an anti-aging IV drip, post-surgical drip, or a post-exercise amino acid drip. 

Note: Rest assured, each IV Lounge session is closely supervised to ensure safety and to answer any of your queries. Our wellness team, which includes nurse practitioners, registered nurses, a medical doctor and a naturopathic doctor, is available to monitor these intravenous drip sessions. 

Your athletic health goals may require a tailored approach to wellness. Let’s see how we can improve your physical performances with key nutrients from our IV therapy Toronto Lounge! Call us to request your initial consultation. 

Disclaimer: The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. You should always consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on this website. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified healthcare provider because of information you have read from the Toronto Functional Medicine Centre website or other affiliate media. 

 

References

Balshaw TG, Bampouras TM, Barry TJ, Sparks SA. The effect of acute taurine ingestion on 3-km running performance in trained middle-distance runners. Amino Acids. 2013 Feb;44(2):555-61. doi: 10.1007/s00726-012-1372-1. Epub 2012 Aug 2. PMID: 22855206.

Dawson R Jr, Biasetti M, Messina S, Dominy J. The cytoprotective role of taurine in exercise-induced muscle injury. Amino Acids. 2002 Jun;22(4):309-24. doi: 10.1007/s007260200017. PMID: 12107759.

Inam-U-Llah, Piao F, Aadil RM, Suleman R, Li K, Zhang M, Wu P, Shahbaz M, Ahmed Z. Ameliorative effects of taurine against diabetes: a review. Amino Acids. 2018 May;50(5):487-502. doi: 10.1007/s00726-018-2544-4. Epub 2018 Feb 28. PMID: 29492671.

Ito T, Schaffer SW, Azuma J. The potential usefulness of taurine on diabetes mellitus and its complications. Amino Acids. 2012 May;42(5):1529-39. doi: 10.1007/s00726-011-0883-5. Epub 2011 Mar 25. PMID: 21437784; PMCID: PMC3325402.

Jong CJ, Sandal P, Schaffer SW. The Role of Taurine in Mitochondria Health: More Than Just an Antioxidant. Molecules. 2021 Aug 13;26(16):4913. doi: 10.3390/molecules26164913. PMID: 34443494; PMCID: PMC8400259.

Kurtz, J.A., VanDusseldorp, T.A., Doyle, J.A. et al. Taurine in sports and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 39 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00438-0

Qaradakhi T, Gadanec LK, McSweeney KR, Abraham JR, Apostolopoulos V, Zulli A. The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Taurine on Cardiovascular Disease. Nutrients. 2020 Sep 17;12(9):2847. doi: 10.3390/nu12092847. PMID: 32957558; PMCID: PMC7551180.

Sak D, Erdenen F, Müderrisoglu C, Altunoglu E, Sozer V, Gungel H, Guler PA, Sak T, Uzun H. The Relationship between Plasma Taurine Levels and Diabetic Complications in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Biomolecules. 2019 Mar 11;9(3):96. doi: 10.3390/biom9030096. PMID: 30862074; PMCID: PMC6468751.

Sirdah MM. Protective and therapeutic effectiveness of taurine in diabetes mellitus: a rationale for antioxidant supplementation. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2015 Jan-Mar;9(1):55-64. doi: 10.1016/j.dsx.2014.05.001. Epub 2014 Jun 3. PMID: 25366895.

Sree SL, Sethupathy S. Evaluation of the efficacy of taurine as an antioxidant in the management of patients with chronic periodontitis. Dent Res J (Isfahan). 2014 Mar;11(2):228-33. PMID: 24932194; PMCID: PMC4052649.

Wojcik O.P., Koenig K.L., Zeleniuch-Jacquotte A., Costa M., Chen Y. The potential protective effects of taurine on coronary heart disease. Atherosclerosis. 2010;208:19–25. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2009.06.002.

Wu G. Important roles of dietary taurine, creatine, carnosine, anserine and 4-hydroxyproline in human nutrition and health. Amino Acids. 2020 Mar;52(3):329-360. doi: 10.1007/s00726-020-02823-6. Epub 2020 Feb 18. PMID: 32072297; PMCID: PMC7088015.