Deficiency of taurine, nutrient produced in the body and found in foods such as meat, dairy, fish, could be a driver of aging, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Lead researcher, Vijay Yadav, assistant professor of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, US, and his colleagues found that administering taurine externally slowed down aging in mice and monkeys, in addition to enhancing their health.
After conducting experiments in mice, who received taurine supplements for a year, Yadav and his team including other aging researchers studying effects of taurine supplementation in several species found taurine to have increased the average lifespan in female mice by 12 per cent, in male mice by 10 per cent.
That meant three to four months more in mice, equivalent to seven or eight human years.
Studying the mice’s health parameters, the researchers detected many benefits including suppressed age-associated weight gain in female mice including the menopausal ones, enhanced energy usage, bone mass and muscle strength.
They also found in mice reduced depression-like and anxious behaviours, insulin resistance and, overall, a younger-looking immune system being promoted.
In addition to living longer, healthier lives, they also found multiple benefits at the cellular level, such as reduced “zombie cells”, increased stem cells of some tissues promoting quicker healing after injury, reduced DNA damage, among others.
In rhesus monkeys, the team found that taurine prevented weight gain, increased bone density in the spine and legs, and improved their immune systems’ health. In humans, while it unknown yet if taurine supplements will enhance health or longevity, the researchers said that the outcomes of two experiments they conducted suggested taurine’s potential.
In the first, Yadav and team studied approximately 50 health parameters in 12,000 European adults aged 60 and over and their taurine levels. They found higher taurine levels to be associated with better health, with fewer cases of type 2 diabetes and reduced levels of obesity, hypertension and inflammation. “The results are consistent with the possibility that taurine deficiency contributes to human aging,” said Yadav, despite the results not establishing causation.
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