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Ingredients in Focus is Food Dive’s bite-size column highlighting interesting developments in the ingredients sector.
Taurine is a common ingredient found in energy drinks and scientists are now finding it may have a positive impact on heart health.
Occurring naturally in foods with protein, such as meat or fish, the ingredient helps the human body produce more energy.
While taurine is not actually used to build proteins in the body, as other amino acids are, it has a role in the central nervous system — where it regulates the amount of calcium in nerve cells and controls inflammation.
A recent study found that taurine supplementation can reduce the prevalence of atherosclerotic plaque in mice — suggesting its potential as a heart health booster for humans.
Atherosclerosis is often common in patients with a high-cholesterol diet, and it develops when a sticky plaque builds up in the arteries.
Brands such as Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, and other popular energy drinks currently use taurine in their products. But the consumer conception of these products are far from healthy and beneficial to heart health.
The study from China Pharmaceutical University found the ingredient has an ability to modulate lipid levels and researchers then decided to look into the functional ingredient’s impact more closely.
The scientists performed two studies — one on human patients with varying degrees of atherosclerosis and one in mice on a high-fat diet.
The human study involved the measurement of taurine levels in the blood, which aimed to highlight any association between the severity of atherosclerosis and taurine levels, while the second study assessed the impact of taurine supplementation on the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque in mice during a four-day period.
The animals that received taurine appeared significantly healthier and more youthful — their muscles, brains, and immune systems and other organs were functioning better. The mice’s lifespan also increased significantly.
To determine whether the supplement actually has a profound effect on human health, more research needs to be done, according to researchers.
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