9th June 2023

Taurine may boost lifespan by over 10%

Taurine given to a range of animal species is found to boost health and extend lifespan. According to the study authors, it should be considered for use in a potential anti-aging drug for humans.

A deficiency of taurine – a nutrient produced in the body and found in many foods – is a driver of aging in animals, according to new research announced by Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York City.

The same study also found that taurine supplements can slow down the aging process in worms, mice, and monkeys and can even extend the healthy lifespans of middle-aged mice by up to 12%. The results are published today in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

"For the last 25 years, scientists have been trying to find factors that not only let us live longer, but also increase healthspan – the time we remain healthy in our old age," says Vijay Yadav, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Development at Columbia University and lead author. "This study suggests that taurine could be an elixir of life within us, that helps us live longer and healthier lives."

In recent years, efforts to identify interventions that improve health in old age have intensified as people are living longer and scientists have learned that the aging process can be manipulated. Various molecules carried through the bloodstream are now known to be associated with aging. Less certain is whether these molecules actively direct the aging process, or are just passengers going along for the ride. If a molecule is a driver of aging, then restoring its youthful levels would delay aging and increase healthspan, the years we spend in good health.

"We realised that if taurine is regulating all these processes that decline with age, maybe taurine levels in the bloodstream affect overall health and lifespan," explains Yadav.

First, Yadav and his colleagues looked at levels of taurine in the bloodstream of mice, monkeys, and people and found that its abundance decreases substantially with age. In humans, taurine levels in a 60-year-old are only about one-third of those found in a 5-year-old.

"That's when we started to ask if taurine deficiency is a driver of the aging process, and we set up a large experiment with mice," Yadav says.

The researchers started with 250 male and female mice aged 14 months (equivalent to 45 years old in human terms). Every day, the researcher fed half of them a bolus of taurine or a control solution. At the end of their experiment, Yadav's team found that taurine increased the average lifespan by 10% in male mice and 12% in females. For the mice, that meant three to four extra months, equivalent to about seven or eight human years. In worms, lifespan was observed to increase by 10 to 23%.

To learn how taurine impacted health, Yadav brought in other aging experts who investigated the effect of taurine supplementation on health and lifespan in several species. After measuring various health parameters in mice, they found that at age 2 (60 in human years), animals supplemented with taurine for a year were healthier in almost every way than their untreated counterparts.

The researchers found that taurine suppressed age-associated weight gain in female mice (even in the "menopausal" mice), increased energy expenditure, increased bone mass, improved muscle endurance and strength, reduced depression-like and anxious behaviours, reduced insulin resistance, and promoted a younger-looking immune system, among other benefits.

"Not only did we find that the animals lived longer, we also found that they're living healthier lives," Yadav says.

At a cellular level, taurine improved many functions that usually decline with age: it decreased the number of "zombie cells" (old cells that should die but instead linger and release harmful substances), increased survival after telomerase deficiency, increased the number of stem cells present in some tissues (which can help with healing after injury), improved the performance of mitochondria, reduced DNA damage, and improved cells' ability to sense nutrients.

Similar effects were seen in middle-aged rhesus monkeys, given daily taurine supplements for six months. Taurine prevented weight gain, reduced fasting blood glucose and markers of liver damage, increased bone density in the spine and legs, and improved the health of their immune systems.

The researchers do not know yet if taurine supplements will improve health or increase longevity in humans, but two experiments they conducted suggest that taurine has potential.

In the first, Yadav and his team looked at the relationship between taurine levels and about 50 health parameters in 12,000 European adults aged 60 and over. Overall, those with higher taurine were healthier, had fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, lower obesity levels, less hypertension, and lower levels of inflammation.

"These are associations, which do not establish causation," Yadav explains, "but the results are consistent with the possibility that taurine deficiency contributes to human aging."

The second study tested if taurine levels would respond to an intervention known to improve health: exercise. The researchers measured taurine levels before and after a variety of male athletes and sedentary individuals finished a strenuous cycling workout and found a significant increase in taurine among all groups of athletes (sprinters, endurance runners, and natural bodybuilders) and sedentary individuals.

"No matter the individual, all had increased taurine levels after exercise, which suggests that some of the health benefits of exercise may come from an increase in taurine," Yadav says.

Only a randomised clinical trial in people will determine if taurine truly has health benefits, Yadav adds. Taurine trials are currently underway for obesity, but none are designed to measure a wide range of health parameters. Other potential anti-aging drugs – including metformin, rapamycin, and NAD analogues – are being considered for testing in clinical trials.

"I think taurine should also be considered," Yadav says. "And it has some advantages: taurine is naturally produced in our bodies, it can be obtained naturally in the diet, has no known toxic effects, and can be boosted by exercise. Taurine abundance goes down with age, so restoring taurine to a youthful level in old age may be a promising anti-aging strategy."

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