Taurine Capsules

Each capsule provides 480 mg of taurine. Take 1 capsule once a day with any meal, as the label directs. A pot holds 60 capsules, a 60-day supply. The capsule contains taurine with cellulose as the carrier in a vegetarian cellulose shell, nothing else, and it is vegan.

Sources: Product label.

Taurine is an amino acid found mainly in the heart, brain, muscles and eyes. Most amino acids are joined together by the body to make protein, but taurine is not: it stays free inside cells, where it has functions of its own. The body gets taurine in two ways, making some from cysteine, another amino acid, and absorbing some from meat, fish and dairy foods. L-taurine is another name for the same compound, since taurine has no mirror-image forms and only one form is sold in supplements.

Sources: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; PubChem, US National Library of Medicine; peer-reviewed review, "Taurine and nutrition".

Taurine plays a part in the working of the heart, muscles and nervous system. Inside cells it balances fluids, salts and minerals, the body needs it to process bile acid, which breaks down dietary fat, and cells use it to produce energy. As an antioxidant it protects cells from oxidative stress, and it is the most abundant amino acid in the retina of the eye. Research into wider benefits is at an earlier stage: studies suggest taurine may increase oxygen uptake during exercise, delaying fatigue, and may limit muscle damage, and early research points to possible effects on blood pressure and on the way the body uses insulin.

Sources: Cleveland Clinic; Mayo Clinic; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; peer-reviewed review, "Effects and mechanisms of taurine", 2018.

Taurine has a calming action on nerve signals in the brain, which is why it comes up in searches about sleep. The published sources on file do not include a trial of taurine for sleep in people. What is known is the timing: after a dose, blood levels rise within about 10 minutes, peak after roughly an hour and return to normal within 6.5 hours. Anyone trying it in the evening is working from that timing and the calming action, not from a sleep trial, and the label directs one capsule with any meal.

Sources: Cleveland Clinic; peer-reviewed review, "Taurine in sports and exercise", 2021.

Studies of taurine in adults have used between 500 mg and 10 g a day. Reviews of exercise research class 0.5 to 2 g a day as a low dose and 3 to 5 g as a moderate one, and effects were reported most consistently at 1 to 3 g. Published safety data identify 3 g a day as a level that can be taken long term with confidence. One capsule at 480 mg sits at the bottom of the low range, close to the 500 mg floor used in studies, and a second capsule brings the day to just under 1 g. For comparison, food provides about 58 mg a day in a diet containing meat and fish, and almost none in a vegan diet.

Sources: Peer-reviewed reviews ("Taurine in sports and exercise", 2021; "Taurine and nutrition"); Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.

Taurine is well tolerated at the doses used in research. Studies lasting up to a year have given adults 1 to 6 g a day without serious side effects, and EFSA reviewed taurine in 2009 and found no safety concern at the intakes of regular energy drink users. Excessive intakes have been linked to nausea, vomiting, headache and stomach pain. Taurine is known to interact with some prescription drugs, so anyone on regular prescriptions, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, should speak to a GP or pharmacist first.

Sources: Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine; Cleveland Clinic; EFSA 2009 opinion.

Taurine is sold as a single compound, so there is no form to choose between. What varies is the dose and what it is mixed with. Energy drinks pair it with caffeine and sugar, at doses far above anything in a capsule, and that pairing is the one safety reviewers have studied most. Powder is cheaper for multi-gram doses but needs measuring and has a faint taste. These capsules give a fixed 480 mg with cellulose and nothing else, which suits anyone who wants a moderate daily amount they can take anywhere. A capsule is a cellulose shell around the powder, so it needs no coating and breaks down quickly once swallowed; tablets need binders and a coating to hold their shape.

Sources: PubChem, US National Library of Medicine; EFSA 2009 opinion; product label.

Taurine capsules are for vegans and vegetarians, who get almost no taurine from diet. They also suit people pointed at taurine by a practitioner or their own reading who want a plain form at a known dose, and anyone who wants a single-ingredient capsule rather than an energy drink. Studies have paired it with other supplements: in one trial of 36 men, taurine taken with branched-chain amino acids led to less muscle soreness after exercise than either taken alone. Taken with a protein shake it needs no spacing; the old advice to take amino acids on an empty stomach has no source behind it for taurine, and the label says with any meal.

Sources: Peer-reviewed review, "Effects and mechanisms of taurine", 2018; product label.