Sep 07 2009
The Dangers of Taurine, Commonly Found in Energy Drinks
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The multi-billion dollar phenomenon of energy drinks has captured the attention of scientists and nutritionists across the country. One of the main reasons is taurine, a common ingredient found in the caffeine and sugar-laden concoctions.
Taurine is a free form amino acid contained in foods and manufactured in the body from the amino acid cysteine. It was first discovered in the bile of bulls, and now produced synthetically by the truckload. Since taurine is created naturally in the human body, a good diet supplies all you need.
Studies have implicated synthetic taurine in illnesses ranging from high blood pressure to strokes and seizures to heart disease. For these reasons it’s been banned in some Scandinavian countries – like Switzerland – after being linked to the deaths of three consumers.
Because taurine is utilized by the body during exercise and in times of stress, it’s become a popular ingredient in energy drinks. But taurine has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system that’s very unnatural.
Is Taurine an Upper or Downer? Surprising New Research on the Brain
Scientists have known for a couple of years that taurine is involved somehow in the development and function of the brain. But recently they’ve discovered a more defined area of taurine’s neurological activity. In a recent article from MedicalNewsToday.com, researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York say they were “surprised” to find taurine “extraordinarily active” on brain receptors.
Even though taurine is known to be a key amino acid, the researchers say they’re curious and puzzled still about the function of taurine in the brain, and have more questions than answers.
They found taurine working deep inside the brain, in the “regulatory” area of the thalamus, interacting with neurotransmitters. The thalamus is involved in sleep/wake cycle pathways in the brain and other activities.
“Its inclusion in these supplements is a little puzzling, because our research would suggest that instead of being a pick-me-up, the taurine actually would have more of a sedative effect on the brain,” the scientists said.
That’s a huge concern because it’s become trendy with young people to mix the drinks with alcohol. The daily dose of Taurine should be between 100-500mg, and one can of a popular energy drink, for example, has 1000 milligrams of synthetically produced Taurine. Some people are drinking up to eight cans a day (8000mg of Taurine), an amount that can have drug-like effects on the body and cause damage. Furthermore, mixing stimulants with sedatives, especially alcohol, is extremely risky.
Taurine: The Magic Bullet for Energy?
There’s no magic bullet for strength and endurance. I would recommend that you avoid energy drinks. Treat them like soft drinks, or even worse. The lofty claims on these drinks for instant vitality are simply outrageous. A good, varied diet of whole organic live foods gives you all the Taurine you need, without the highs and lows of energy drinks.
Natural Taurine is actually beneficial for the body and can be found in cows milk, meat, fish and eggs and for vegetarians it can be found seaweed. The daily dose of Taurine should be no higher than 500mg.
Make sure you exercise and get enough sleep, and remember, medicine and illness can zap your energy. Stay properly hydrated with lots of purified water, especially when you’re exercising hard or you’re stressed. It’s a good idea to drink lots of water regardless.
Take a pass on the “crash and burn” high from caffeine and sugar – and taurine. The ingredients of these drinks, both mysterious and some not too mysterious, are a recipe for disaster. They may “give you wings,” but you’ll soon come tumbling down – and in the long run, crash really hard.
February 8th, 2010 at 5:42 am
Still no actually proof. I guess time will tell.
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October 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Taurine isn’t stimulating. It helps to calm down nerve transmission in the heart and the brain. It’s used in energy drinks to prevent overstimulation and used as a safety net to prevent them from causing a heart attack from their comsumption. Taurine is used successfully for those with epileptic seizures and brain injuries that have led to seizures.
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Dr. Edward Group replied on October 14th, 2009:
Thank you for posting a comment. I should have pointed out that Taurine stimulates the development of the CNS. Thanks for pointing that out. There is also a big difference between consuming synthetic or naturally occurring nutrients such as Taurine. Synthetic nutrients are devoid of their energetic value which you do not lose from nutrients in live food sources. I believe that anything in excess can be harmful to the body, and drinking 5-10 cans daily of these drinks over a period of time will have a negative effect on the adrenals, and the body in general. Its not just the Taurine but the combination of all of the ingredients in these drinks. Below are some additional studies for you to review. In your reference to Taurine helping seizures please take a look at the following two references:
1 – Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, Phoenix, AZ 58013, USA.
Stanley.Iyadurai@chw.edu
Energy drinks contain a mixture of compounds, of which caffeine, guarana, and herbal supplements such as ginkgo and ginseng are major components. Survey of popular literature reveals anecdotal observations of adverse events associated with consumption of energy drinks. However, there are no reported cases in the published literature. We report a series of four patients who had discrete seizures on multiple occasions, following heavy consumption of energy drinks. Once the patients were abstinent from the energy drinks, no recurrent seizures were reported. We propose that the large consumption of energy drinks rich in caffeine, taurine, and guarana seed extract could have provoked these seizures.
2 – Epilepsy Behav. 2007 May;10(3):504-8. Epub 2007 Mar 8.
New-onset seizures in adults: possible association with consumption of popular energy drinks.
Lyadurai SJ, Chung SS.
Additional references on Taurine
Development of the CNS
Taurine modulation of calcium flux in the retina is particularly interesting. In a model of experimental regeneration of goldfish retina, a system for the study of central nervous system regeneration (Landreth and Agranoff, 1979), taurine was demonstrated to stimulate neuritic growth by increasing calcium influx (Lima et al., 1988, 1993). Taurine is known to produce stimulation of Ca2+ uptake in the whole-rat retina and in isolated rod outer segments (ROS) under conditions of low micromolar Ca2+ concentrations (for review, see Lombardini, 1991). In these previous studies, stimulation by taurine was observed to be concentration-dependent, up to a concentration of 32 mM (Militante and Lombardini, 1998a). The effect of taurine is assumed to be dependent on binding to the plasma membrane with or without the subsequent uptake into the cell, although the mechanism of action behind the effects of taurine is currently unclear (Fig. 1).
Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2003 Aug;368(2):134-41. Epub 2003 Jul 26.
The effects of systemically administered taurine and N-pivaloyltaurine on striatal extracellular dopamine and taurine in freely moving rats.
Salimäki J, Scriba G, Piepponen TP, Rautolahti N, Ahtee L.
Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology
University of Helsinki
POB 56, 00014
Helsinki, Finland
The second most abundant cerebral amino acid, taurine, is widely consumed in the so-called “energy drinks”. Therefore, its possible actions on the brain are of great interest. In the present experiments taurine was given intraperitoneally to rats in order to study if it can be administered systemically in large enough amounts to alter cerebral dopaminergic transmission or to induce hypothermia. In addition, the effects of subcutaneously administered lipophilic taurine analogue, N-pivaloyltaurine, were studied. The extracellular striatal taurine and dopamine concentrations were estimated using in vivo microdialysis in awake and freely moving rats, and the rectal temperatures were measured. Taurine at the total dose of 45 mmol/kg i.p. led to a maximally 8-fold increased striatal extracellular taurine concentration, induced a long-lasting hypothermia, and significantly reduced the striatal extracellular dopamine concentration. The latter effect was strengthened by co-treatment with reuptake inhibitor nomifensine.
N-pivaloyltaurine (15 mmol/kg in total, s.c.) only slightly elevated the striatal extracellular taurine concentration, failed to alter the rectal temperature, and in contrast to taurine somewhat elevated the striatal extracellular dopamine concentration suggesting a different mechanism or locus of action from that of taurine. Finally, our experiments using brain microdialysis confirmed the earlier findings that taurine is slowly eliminated from the brain. The results clearly indicate that systemically given taurine enters the brain in concentrations that induce pharmacological effects.
Amino Acids. 2007 Sep;33(3):451-7. Epub 2006 Oct 20.
Rapid analysis of taurine in energy drinks using amino acid analyzer and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as basis for toxicological evaluation. Triebel S, Sproll C, Reusch H, Godelmann R, Lachenmeier DW.
Chemisches und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt (CVUA) Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany.
So-called energy drinks with very high amounts of taurine (up to 4000 mg/l are usually granted by certificates of exemption) are increasingly offered on the market. To control the currently valid maximum limits of taurine in energy drinks, a simple and rapid analytical method is required to use it routinely in food monitoring. In this article, we describe a fast and efficient analytical method (FTIR-spectroscopy) that is able to reliably characterize and quantify taurine in energy drinks. The determination of taurine in energy drinks by FTIR was compared with amino acid analyzer (ion chromatography with ninhydrin-postcolumn derivatization). During analysis of 80 energy drinks, a median concentration of 3180 mg/l was found in alcohol-free products, 314 mg/l in energy drinks with spirits, 151 mg/l in beer-containing drinks and 305 mg/l in beverages with wine. Risk analysis of these products is difficult due to the lack of valid toxicological information about taurine and its interferences with other ingredients of energy drinks (for example caffeine and alcohol). So far, the high taurine concentrations of energy drinks in comparison to the rest of the diet are scientifically doubtful, as the advertised physiological effects and the value of supplemented taurine are unproven.
Med J Aust. 2009 Jan 5;190(1):41-3
Cardiac arrest in a young man following excess consumption of caffeinated “energy drinks”.
Berger AJ, Alford K.
Port Macquarie Base Hospital, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia.
Adam.berger@sesiahs.health.nsw.gov.au
An otherwise healthy 28-year-old man had a cardiac arrest after a day of motocross racing. He had consumed excessive amounts of a caffeinated “energy drink” throughout the day. We postulate that a combination of excessive ingestion of caffeine- and taurine-containing energy drinks and strenuous physical activity can produce myocardial ischaemia by inducing coronary vasospasm.
Thanks again,
–Dr. G
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October 13th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Great article. I still have a hard time understanding how people can be so dumb to drink these energy drinks. I pretty much stay away from them. The only one I’ll drink is Rev3 which is a natural energy drink and doesn’t cause me to crash. Even then, I only drink Rev3 on occasion.
Thanks!
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Lee (Poppy) replied on October 23rd, 2009:
I was just curious, and totally respect your opinion about energy drinks. I was 35 way back when, when I drove a Big Truck Over the Road. A Newby and eager to learn, not really paying attention to the regulations, I wanted to keep driving and making more money.. paid by the mile ya know!
Well the caffine pills seemed to be the way to go at the time. Energy Drinks were not even a factor back then. To make a long story short, I had a minor heart attack at 35 heading to Birmingham, Alabama. No more No Dose For Me To Say The Least!
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October 8th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Very interesting, thanks for that. It’s so refreshing to read a sound medical article about the effects of energy drinks. The scary part, of course, being how little we actually know. It really worries me to think about what we’ll learn ten years down the line when the effects of the energy drink craze starts to rear its ugly head, particularly for the young people with growing bodies that most energy drink companies shamelessly market towards. Fantastic read, thanks again.
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October 7th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I have been saying to everyone I know for the past few years that it is crazy how only about 5 years ago you could walk into a convinience store and see maybe a shelf of energy drinks, but today, there is a case or two dedicated to them! It just goes to show how run down everyone is and how rushed we all feel to perform. Instead of having enough time to get a good nights sleep and eat healthy, energy giving foods, people are looking for the quick fix. Hopefully these drinks come and go like that drink “Jolt,” but actually I am afraid, for now, they are here to stay.
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October 5th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
This article does point out that Taurine consumption is not harmful in moderate amounts. If this article is meant to steer people away from drinking these energy drinks, it should focus more on the dangers of the ridiculous amount of sugar and caffeine that are contained in these energy drinks. Both of these ingredients have been proven to be a cause of the “crash” that most people experience when consumed in high amounts. Many people who drink these energy drinks experience this type of crash which causes them to drink more to keep that rush of energy they are seeking; thereby consuming seriously dangerous amounts of sugar, caffeine, and the other substances found in these energy drinks, including taurine. I agree, these energy drinks are dangerous and unhealthy. However, there are healthy, more effective drinks out there that DO contain moderate amounts of Taurine. People should not automatically disregard the use of these effective and healthy drinks if more energy is what they need, just because it contains taurine. One great thing this article does offer is the safe daily dose of taurine. Before consuming any type of energy drink, make sure the levels of taurine fall within these limits.
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September 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I’m amazed by how prevalent these drinks have become in our society. Everyone is chasing the promise of unlimited energy without really considering the side effects of these artificial chemicals.
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September 22nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
An eye opening article. As a society we remain gullible to false claims made in the slick advertising campaigns that promote these products.
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