Compound found in energetic drinks slowed cellular aging and extended healthy life in monkeys

(Parminder Singh et al. / Science, 2023 https://bit.ly/43yCejg)

An international team of scientists has discovered that taurine levels, a sulfonic amino acid, significantly decrease with age in mice, monkeys, and humans.

Remarkably, by adding taurine to the diet, they managed to extend healthy life in experiments with roundworms, mice, and monkeys.

Moreover, a taurine deficit in humans was associated with markers of metabolic disorders and inflammation.

Aging is an inevitable multifactorial process characterized by the decline of various organ functions, increasing the risk of "age-related" diseases and death with each passing year.

This process is associated with systemic changes in the concentrations of some metabolites.

However, it's unclear whether these changes are a consequence of aging or, conversely, accelerate the process.

---

---

TAURINE
Taurine is one of these metabolites.

Although it does not form part of proteins, it activates some glycine receptors and is essential for the correct development and functioning of

• the cardiovascular system
• the central nervous system
• the eye's retina
• skeletal muscles

Its blood concentration is known to correlate with some indicators of skin health, the cardiovascular system, the nervous system, the immune system, and glucose metabolism.

The researchers found that the serum concentration of taurine steadily decreases: on average, from 132.3 nanograms per milliliter in four-week-old mice to 40.2 in 56-week-old ones.

In 15-year-old monkeys, it was on average 85% lower than in five-year-olds; in 60-year-old humans, it made up only a third of the level in five-year-olds.

After that, the authors assigned 14-week-old mice 1000 milligrams of taurine per kilogram of body weight or placebo daily until the end of life with unlimited feeding.

The median lifespan increased by 10-12%, and the expected lifespan at 28 weeks of age by 18-25% in the main group compared to the control group.

A similar effect was reproduced in Caenorhabditis elegans roundworms, but not in Saccharomyces cerevisiae baker's yeast.

In the next stage of experiments, it was found that adding taurine to food in middle age dose-dependently improves all studied health indicators in mice.

In particular, such animals gained less body weight with age and lost less bone density; they better preserved muscle strength, endurance, and coordination of movements.

They also demonstrated the preservation of cognitive functions and fewer signs of anxiety and depression.

The mice had better glucose tolerance and intestinal peristalsis, as well as more intensive energy exchange.

A similar effect was observed in rhesus monkeys.

Thus, a taurine deficiency can be considered one of the driving factors of aging in multicellular animals.

The authors believe that the data they have collected is sufficient to initiate long-term controlled clinical trials of the effects of taurine, in which the outcomes should be the duration of healthy life in particular and life in general.

Sources:

• Science: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi3025
• SciTech Daily: https://scitechdaily.com/columbia-study-energy-drink-ingredient-taurine-may-boost-health-and-slow-aging/

---

---

Wanna relax, sleep or improve your focus?
Check this rain sound video: https://bit.ly/rainsfocus

---

---

#science #taurine #age #mice #monkeys #steemexclusive