Taurine
amino-acid · also known as 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid
This is general information, not medical advice. Supplements can interact with medicines and health conditions. Always check with your doctor or pharmacist before starting or changing supplements.
What it is
Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid (technically an amino sulfonic acid) found in high concentrations in meat, fish, and shellfish, and it is also synthesised naturally in the body from cysteine. Unlike most amino acids it is not incorporated into proteins; instead it plays roles in bile acid conjugation, regulation of cell volume, calcium handling in heart and muscle cells, and antioxidant defence. Taurine is a common ingredient in energy drinks and sports supplements, where people take it hoping to improve exercise performance and recovery, and it has also been studied as a supplement for blood pressure control and as an adjunct alongside standard treatment for heart failure. Evidence for exercise performance and blood pressure is modest but reasonably consistent across trials; evidence for heart failure is more preliminary. Taurine is generally very well tolerated, and no consistent pattern of adverse effects has been established at commonly used supplemental doses.
Evidence-based benefits
- Grade B· Limited evidence[1]
A single oral dose of taurine (roughly 1-6 g), especially taken before exercise, may modestly improve endurance exercise performance, including time-to-exhaustion.
A 2018 meta-analysis of 10 randomised trials found that oral taurine ingestion improved overall endurance performance versus placebo (Hedges' g = 0.40, 95% CI 0.12-0.67, P = 0.004), with a similar effect in time-to-exhaustion trials specifically. There was no dose-response relationship across the 1-6 g range studied, and no difference between single-dose and multi-day supplementation periods.
- Grade B· Limited evidence[1]
Taurine supplementation may modestly lower blood pressure, particularly in people with metabolic or liver-related conditions; evidence in otherwise healthy, normotensive populations is more limited.
A 2020 meta-analysis of 12 randomised controlled trials, mostly in patients with liver or metabolic dysregulation (diabetes, fatty liver, obesity, or similar), found taurine supplementation (0.5-6 g/day for 15 days to 6 months) significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (weighted mean difference -4.67 mmHg) and diastolic blood pressure (-2.90 mmHg) versus placebo, alongside reductions in total cholesterol and triglycerides; there was no significant effect on fasting glucose or body weight.
- Grade C· Preliminary evidence[1]
Taurine has been studied as an adjunct in heart failure; small trials describe improvements in symptoms and exercise capacity, but a systematic review found no significant pooled effect on objective measures like ejection fraction, and taurine is not an approved treatment for heart failure.
A 2022 systematic review of 11 human studies (doses 500 mg-6 g/day for 2-48 weeks) in people with heart failure or reduced ejection fraction described improvements in symptoms, exercise capacity, and hemodynamic parameters in individual trials, but a meta-analysis of ejection fraction and stroke volume pooled across studies found no significant effect versus control; only one included study was rated "high quality," and the authors concluded a dedicated clinical trial is still needed.
Risks & contraindications
- Grade B· Limited evidence[1]
Taurine is well tolerated at typical supplemental doses; a formal risk assessment found the available human trial evidence supports safety up to about 3 g/day in healthy adults, though data confirming long-term safety at higher doses are insufficient.
A 2008 risk assessment reviewing published human clinical trial data found no consistent pattern of adverse effects from oral taurine and identified 3 g/day as an Observed Safe Level for healthy adults. Higher doses have been used without reported harm in some individual studies, but the authors judged the data above 3 g/day insufficient to confirm long-term safety.
Dosage & how to take it
- Taurine: 1–3 g/day, any time of day, with or without food. Trials supporting exercise and blood pressure benefits generally used 1-3 g/day (up to 6 g/day acutely in some exercise studies). Human trial data support safety up to about 3 g/day; higher research doses (up to 10 g/day) have been used short-term but have less robust long-term safety data.
Interactions
No interactions in our database yet. We check against a limited set of medications. Absence of a warning is not evidence of safety.
Our medication coverage is not exhaustive. Absence of a warning here is not evidence of safety. Always confirm with your pharmacist.
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