The Effects of Oral Taurine on Resting Blood Pressure in Humans: a Meta-Analysis

Abstract

There is growing evidence that taurine deficiency is associated with hypertension and that oral supplementation can have antihypertensive effects in humans. However, these investigations have been conducted across a number of decades and populations and have not been collectively reviewed. A search was performed using various databases in May 2018 and later screened using search criteria for eligibility. There were seven peer-reviewed studies meeting the inclusion criteria, encompassing 103 participants of varying age and health statuses. Taurine ingestion reduced SBP (Hedges' g = - 0.70, 95% CI - 0.98 to - 0.41, P < 0.0001) and DBP (Hedges' g = - 0.62, 95% CI - 0.91 to - 0.34, P < 0.0001). These results translated to mean ~ 3 mmHg reductions in both SBP (range = 0-15 mmHg) and DBP (range = 0-7 mmHg) following a range of doses (1 to 6 g/day) and supplementation periods (1 day to 12 weeks), with no adverse events reported. These preliminary findings suggest that ingestion of taurine at the stated doses and supplementation periods can reduce blood pressure to a clinically relevant magnitude, without any adverse side effects. Future studies are needed to establish the effects of oral taurine supplementation on targeted pathologies and the optimal supplementation doses and periods.

Oral taurine improves critical power and severe-intensity exercise tolerance

“…Therefore, an adult weighing 70 kg would require a dose of 3.5 g 1.5-2 h before training or competition to achieve an ergogenic effect. There have been no adverse side-effects reported across studies using doses up to 6 g (Waldron et al 2018c), inferring the safety and tolerability of this supplement. The effects of taurine on endurance performance are fairly well-established among recreational athletes but, to date, there has been no work carried out on elite-level athletes, which is necessary to develop an understanding of the scope of taurine's ergogenic effects.…”

Sexual Dimorphism of Metabolomic Profile in Arterial Hypertension

“…The increased level of glutamine may be related to the increased hydroxyproline because it is the precursor of the proline biosynthesis, an essential element of collagen. Interestingly, four of these amino acids or biogenic amines have already been reported to display antihypertensive properties, as demonstrated for histidine through central histamine H3 receptors and decreased NO 49 , for tyrosine through the effect of its product, norepinephrine, on the central nervous system 50 , for phenylalanine through GTP cyclohydrolase inhibition 51 , and for taurine 52 . These discriminant metabolites may represent protective mechanisms to counteract increased blood pressure in women.…”

Taurine and cardiac disease: state of the art and perspectives

“…Taurine deficiency was reported to induce several diseases in animal models including retinal degeneration (Negoro and Hara 1992;Ripps and Shen 2012), dilated cardiomyopathy (Lake 1992;Pion et al 1992;Novotny and Hogan 1992;Schaffer and Kim 2018), deficiency of immune functions (Negoro and Hara 1992;Lake et al 1992), hypertension (Waldron et al 2018;Schaffer and Kim 2018), and aging (Schaffer et al 2015;Ames 2018). For example, in humans, higher incidences of development of hypertension (Xu et al 2008;Waldron et al 2018) as well as cardiac diseases (Azuma 1989;Xu et al 2008) were reported in populations having low-taurine diets (Yamori et al 2004;Sagara et al 2015;Schaffer and Kim 2018). Recently, taurine transporter (Taut) knockout mice were used to understand the effects of taurine tissue depletion.…”