Taurine is an amino acid that supports neurological development and helps regulate the level of water and minerals in the blood. Taurine is also thought to have antioxidant properties. Taurine is found naturally in meat, fish and breast milk, and it's commonly available as a dietary supplement. Some studies suggest that taurine supplementation may improve athletic performance, which may explain why taurine is used in many energy drinks.

• A study published by Japanese researchers in 2003 examined 11 men aged 18 to 20, who were told to perform bicycle exercises until they were exhausted. After taking taurine supplements for seven days (each time, before their workout), the men showed significant increases in VO2max (the maximum capacity of a person's body to transport and use oxygen) and time until exhaustion set in. The researchers credited the improvement to taurine's antioxidant activity and protection of cellular properties.
• Taurine is found abundantly in healthy bodies.6 However, certain diets, particularly vegetarian or vegan diets, lack adequate amounts of taurine.7,8 Disease states-including liver, kidney, or heart failure, diabetes, and cancer-can all cause a deficiency in taurine.9-11 And aging bodies often cannot internally produce an optimal amount of taurine, making supplementation vital.12 That's why those interested in longevity should consider this vital and super low-cost nutrient.
• The Japanese have a life expectancy that is among the highest in the world. In fact, Okinawa, Japan's famous "Island of Longevity," likely has the world's highest percentage of people over 100 years old.1 Undoubtedly, there are many factors that play into the life spans of the longest-living populations, but evidence shows that they all have one thing in common: high dietary intake of an amino acid called taurine. The connection between taurine and a long life is so strong that researchers have dubbed taurine, "The nutritional factor for the longevity of the Japanese.
• Taurine is an important factor for development and maintenance of morphology and normal functions of the retina, and has a significant role during brain development, modulating the processes of differentiation, migration, development and regeneration of the central nervous system (CNS). Taurine also incorporates itself in a large set of other physiological phenomena, including inhibition of neurotransmitters, stabilization of the cell membranes, adipose tissue regulation, and calcium homeostasis. Taurine is not incorporated in enzymes and proteins, but has an important role in the metabolism of bile acids.

Taurine or L-Taurine is an amino acid that is considered to be the second most abundant in the body's muscle after glutamine. However, with new research scientists are beginning to think that taurine is the most abundant in the body's Type II muscle fibers, even more so than glutamine, which has led to much speculation for power athletes (45). Dairy products, meat, poultry, eggs, and fish are excellent natural sources of taurine. Taurine has been known to increase muscle mass, muscle strength, power, reduces muscle damage caused by exercise, accelerate recovery between workouts, and may also have an insulin-like effect in the body.

The processes by which these functions take place are not yet clearly known. However it appears that taurine has several critical functions and can act similarly to creatine in that it expands the body's cells by helping the muscle cell itself hold more water, thus increasing cell volume. It has been theorized that all these may be very important to high performance athletes as it helps in protein synthesis and thus muscle hypertrophy. Additionally, another theory is that taurine enhances structural contractile capabilities in the muscle itself and thus may aid the lifter in handling heavier weights. High muscle concentrations of taurine also seem to be of the utmost importance in aiding high performance athletes.