Taurine is a vitamin produced by the body and found in many foods. According to a new study led by Columbia University academics and including hundreds of aging experts from around the world, insufficient taurine is a factor in aging in animals.
The same study also showed that taurine supplementation slowed aging in worms, mice and monkeys, and even extended the healthy lifespan of middle-aged mice by 12%.
The findings were published in the June 8 issue of Science.
"For the past 25 years, scientists have been trying to identify factors that not only allow us to live longer, but also extend healthspan - the time we spend healthy in old age," said the study's leader.
"This study suggests that taurine may be the elixir of life in our bodies, helping us live longer, healthier lives."
Over the past two decades, as people have lived longer and scientists have learned that the aging process can be controlled, there has been an increased effort to find interventions to improve health in old age.
Many studies have found that various molecules carried in the blood are related to aging. What is less certain is whether these molecules actively guide the aging process or are simply along for the ride. If molecules are the drivers of aging, then restoring their youthful levels would slow aging and extend healthspan, the number of years we spend in good health.
Taurine first came to Yadav's radar during his previous research into osteoporosis, which revealed taurine's role in bone building. Around the same time, other researchers found that taurine levels were related to immune function, obesity, and nervous system function.
"We realized that if taurine regulates all of these processes that decline with age, then taurine levels in the blood could impact overall health and longevity," said the study leader.
First, the team studied taurine levels in the blood of mice, monkeys, and humans and found that taurine abundance decreased significantly with age. In humans, taurine levels in a 60-year-old are only about one-third that of a 5-year-old.
"That's when we started asking whether taurine deficiency was a driver of the aging process, so we conducted a large experiment with mice," said the study leader. The researchers started from nearly 250 animals aged 14 months. Large female and male mice (approximately 45 years old in human terms). The researchers fed half of them taurine or a control solution every day. At the end of the experiment, Yadav and his team found that taurine extended the average lifespan of female mice by 12% and male mice by 10%. For mice, that means an extra three to four months, equivalent to seven or eight years in humans.
To understand how taurine affects health, the study leaders invited other aging researchers, who studied the effects of taurine supplementation on health and lifespan in several species.
The experts measured various health parameters in the mice and found that at 2 years of age (60 years in humans), animals supplemented with taurine for a year were healthier in almost every way than untreated mice.
Researchers found that taurine inhibited age-related weight gain in female mice (even "menopausal" mice), increased energy expenditure, increased bone mass, improved muscle endurance and strength, reduced depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors, and lowered insulin resistance, as well as boosting the immune system to look younger, among other benefits.
"Not only did we find that these animals lived longer, we also found that they lived healthier lives," said the study leader.
At the cellular level, taurine improves many functions that typically decline with age: the supplement reduces the number of “zombie cells” (old cells that should die but instead linger and release harmful substances), increasing end- Survival after granzyme deficiency increases the presence of stem cells in some tissues (which can help tissues heal after injury), improves mitochondrial performance, reduces DNA damage, and increases the cell's ability to sense nutrients.
Similar health effects of taurine supplementation were seen in middle-aged rhesus monkeys that were supplemented with taurine daily for six months. Taurine prevents weight gain, reduces fasting blood sugar and markers of liver damage, increases bone density in the spine and legs, and improves immune system health.
The researchers don't know yet whether taurine supplements will improve health or extend life in humans, but two experiments they conducted suggest taurine has potential. In the first experiment, the team looked at the relationship between taurine levels and about 50 health parameters out of 12,000. European adults aged 60 and over. Overall, people with higher taurine levels were healthier, with fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, less obesity, and lower levels of high blood pressure and inflammation. "These associations do not establish cause and effect, but the results are consistent with the possibility that taurine deficiency contributes to aging in humans," said the study leader .
The second study tested whether taurine levels responded to an intervention known to improve health: exercise. Researchers measured taurine levels in various male athletes and sedentary individuals before and after completing strenuous cycling workouts and found that taurine levels were significantly increased in all athletes (sprinters, endurance runners, and natural bodybuilders) and in sedentary individuals. .
"Taurine levels increased after exercise regardless of individual, suggesting that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from increases in taurine," said the study's lead author .
Only randomized clinical trials in humans can determine whether taurine actually has health benefits, the study leaders added. Trials are currently underway for taurine to treat obesity, but none are designed to measure a wide range of health parameters.
Other potential anti-aging drugs—including metformin, rapamycin, and NAD analogs—are being considered for clinical trials.
"I think taurine should also be taken into consideration," said the study leader . "And it has some advantages: Taurine is produced naturally in our bodies, can be obtained naturally from the diet, has no known toxic effects (although it is rarely used in the concentrations used), and can be enhanced through exercise.
