Taurine: Benefits, Side Effects, Best Time to Take It & More

Taurine

(L-Taurine)

Evidence: High
Possible Benefits: Reasonable
Safety: Reasonable

What is taurine?

Taurine is a non-essential amino acid. As a supplement, most people use it to increase blood flow and energy. This article is about the main benefits of taurine, its potential side effects, the best time to take it, and more.

What does taurine do for the body?

Since taurine is a non-essential amino acid, you do not need to consume it to survive. However, this amino acid still plays a significant role in human health.

Taurine is essential for functions related to cardiovascular health, such as increasing blood flow.

It also plays a role in the development and functioning of the brain, retina, and muscles.

Taurine is involved in osmoregulation, modulation of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum stress, cell membrane stabilization, conjugation of bile acids, calcium homeostasis, energy metabolism, neuromodulation, and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions.

Possible benefits

The benefits mentioned below are dose-dependent. Generally, the higher the dose, the more pronounced the effects are. However, they do reach a plateau at a certain point. We will discuss the best dosing protocol later in this article.

Major benefits

Improved blood flow – Taurine supplements can significantly improve blood flow, especially in type 1 diabetics and those with impaired blood flow.

Minor benefits

Lowered blood pressure – This benefit mainly applies to those with prehypertension or hypertension. The amino acid doesn’t impact the blood pressure of healthy people much if at all.
Exercise capacity with heart problems – Those with heart conditions experienced an improvement in walking distance in one study. Untrained healthy people may also experience a mild improvement in time to exhaustion.
Reduced total cholesterol and triglyceride levels – This benefit is relatively small and applies mainly to those who have their cholesterol or triglyceride levels too high.
Reduced DOMS – Taurine has shown promise for reducing symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness and accelerating strength recovery following exercise.
Improved liver function – Taking taurine by mouth might improve liver function in people with hepatitis.

Possible side effects

These side effects are dose-dependent. The risk for them increases (often linearly but sometimes exponentially) as you increase the dose. Some of the side effects only apply to very high doses.

Nausea
Diarrhea
Beta-alanine deficiency – Taurine and beta-alanine share the same transporter and should be kept in balance as too much of one can cause a deficiency in the other.
Toxicity – While acute toxicity is extremely rare, taking high amounts of taurine could lead to chronic toxicity and cause some health problems. To prevent chronic toxicity, it is best to stay below 3 grams a day unless you have a great reason to take more.
Contamination – Contaminated supplements are uncommon in the USA and other well-regulated countries. However, if you wish to buy products from China, India, or other countries without strict regulations, beware that the supplements may be contaminated. Either way, you need to choose the brand you order from wisely. It is highly recommended to check the certificates or read through some reviews for the specific product before you buy it. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has the power to regulate dietary supplements but can only do so after they have been on the market for a while. That’s because supplement companies are not obligated to announce to the FDA when releasing a new product on the market. The FDA has to discover the product and test it for potential impurities, which can take a lot of time. During that time, the supplement can be sold on the market even if it’s impure. Also, supplement companies can change their manufacturers without announcing it to the FDA.

Who should not take taurine?

You should probably avoid taking the supplement if you:

experience a severe adverse reaction after taking the amino acid
eat a lot of meat
drink energy drinks
are on a tight supplement budget (since there are more cost-effective supplements on the market for most people)

Who will benefit the most?

You should consider taking the supplement if you:

consume very little protein (less than 0.3 grams/pound of body weight)
suffer from type 1 or type 2 diabetes
have a cardiovascular condition that negatively impacts blood flow
are on a vegan or vegetarian diet
take beta-alanine

How much taurine should you take?

A typical western diet contains anywhere from 40-400 mg of taurine.

If you plan to take taurine as a supplement, 1-2 grams appears to be the best daily dose for most people. This amount should provide most of the benefits without meaningful side effects.

Some people may benefit from doses higher than 2 grams. These include type 1 and type 2 diabetics and people who take high doses of beta-alanine.

While as much as 6 grams have been used daily without significant side effects, the upper safety limit for taurine is established at 3 grams.

To stay on the safe side, don’t take more than 3 grams daily unless you have a great reason to do so. Higher amounts may cause problems if you take the supplement for a prolonged period.

Best time to take taurine

Like most other amino acids, taurine is water-soluble, so you don’t have to take it with food to absorb it well. To maximize absorption, take the supplement at least an hour before or after a meal so it doesn’t compete for absorption with other amino acids.

To maximize the benefits, take taurine right before a workout.

Taurine is better taken in the morning. While it should not interrupt your sleep in any significant way, there is no good reason to take it at night.

To maximize the absorption, take taurine at least an hour before or after a meal so it doesn’t compete for absorption with other amino acids.

The half-life of taurine in the body is anywhere from 0.7-1.4 hours. This amino acid should be processed in your body within a few hours after consuming it.

Unless it feels too impractical, spread the daily dose into 2+ smaller doses throughout the day.

Interactions

Beta-alanine
Taurine and beta-alanine share the same transporter and should be kept in balance as too much of one can cause a deficiency in the other.
Other amino acids
Essential and non-essential amino acids should be kept in balance as they act synergistically in many ways. Too much of one amino acid can sometimes cause side effects if there isn’t enough of another amino acid. For example, this principle applies to glycine and methionine, lysine and arginine, and the BCAA trio. There are many other proven and unproven examples. Food or a protein powder is usually a better choice for getting enough amino acids unless you have a specific goal in mind targeted by a particular amino acid/s.
Iron
Taurine increases the absorption of iron, which can be beneficial to those who are deficient in this mineral.
Antihypertensive medications
Taurine may strengthen the effects of these drugs. This can be dangerous if you are trying to maintain blood pressure levels.
Lithium
Taurine might slow down how quickly lithium is flushed out of the body, which can lead to lithium levels being too high.

Where to buy taurine

Amazon is the best option for ordering taurine supplements in most countries. They offer some very affordable products backed by many positive reviews. Also, you can choose from a wide range of brands without having to search through other markets on the internet.

Beware some brands display the dosage per serving instead of per pill or capsule. Therefore, you may accidentally buy something less potent than you intended. Do not fall for this marketing trick.

FAQ

You can take the amino acid daily and do not need to cycle it. However, it is certainly not a problem if you don’t take it daily. Not taking the supplement every once in a while could lead to better absorption. That is yet to be proven or disproven.

All of these options are fine. The two most important things to consider are the price and dosing. Powders are almost always the cheapest form. However, you may need a highly accurate scale to dose them correctly (preferably 0.001g). You can get one for as little as $20 from Amazon. Dosing the powders also takes some time that can add up over months or years. The disadvantage of capsules is that they often contain bovine gelatin, which rarely comes from an ethical source.

Taurine is better taken in the morning. While it should not interrupt your sleep in any significant way, there is no good reason to take it at night.

This amino acid should not become harmful once it exceeds the expiration date but can lose potency over time.

Keep the supplement in a cold, dark, and dry place, and it should remain just as potent for many months or even years.

While toxicity is rare, too much taurine in the system can cause some health problems, often related to causing a deficiency in beta-alanine. It is best to stay below 3 grams a day to prevent these side effects.

You may need more of this amino acid if you:
– eat very little protein (less than 0.3 grams/pound of body weight)
– take beta-alanine
– suffer from type 1 or type 2 diabetes
– have a cardiovascular condition that negatively impacts blood flow

The half-life of taurine in the body is anywhere from 0.7-1.4 hours. This amino acid should be processed in your body within a few hours after consuming it.

If you take the supplement to improve exercise performance, you should notice mild benefits 1-2 hours after you take it.

You can easily find vegan-friendly taurine pills and powders but always check the label to be sure. If you buy the amino acid in a capsulated form, beware that the capsules often contain animal-based gelatin. Instead, find a brand that puts its products into cellulose capsules.

Like most other amino acids, taurine is water-soluble, so you don’t have to take it with food to absorb it well.

Taurine should not break a fast unless you take a very high dose at once. If you practice time-restricted eating, you can take this amino acid during your eating window to make sure it doesn’t break your fast. Taking it on empty stomach may be slightly better if you wish to maximize the absorption.

References

Most of the information provided in this guide is supported by scientific research that can be found and verified in the PubMed medical library. We highly encourage you to use the library to verify anything said in this article. We excluded from consideration studies that are either confounded or have a high conflict of interest.

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