The amino acid taurine may slow aging, research on worms, mice and monkeys suggests.
, is made by our bodies, and we eat it in meats . It’s not known whether extra taurine slows aging in people or if it is even good for us, though the new study turned up an association between lower levels of the amino acid and conditions such as diabetes and obesity.
The results, 11 years in the making, center on taurine in part because scientists found its levels fall with age in the blood of mice, monkeys and humans. As far as amino acids go, taurine is an oddball: Unlike other more familiar amino acids, it doesn’t get incorporated into proteins. Nevertheless, it has a range of suspected jobs in the body, from helping the developing brain to eye health to digestion.
The mice experiments used taurine levels that would be equivalent to about 3 or 6 grams per day for an adult human, Yadav says. A typical energy drink contains 1 gram. There aren’t obvious, known risks of taurine, but thorough long-term studies at these high doses for people have not been done.
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