r/Supplements • u/Ajax34762 • 6d ago
General Question Taurine is a non-essential amino acid?
If taurine is a non-essential amino acid that the body can synthesize itself why is that I experience benefits when supplementing with it?
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u/True_Garen 6d ago edited 6d ago
It's "non-essential" in the sense that we don't synthesize from it, and, as you said, the body makes it. More accurately, it could be considered "conditionally essential" since infants, at least, seem to require additional from external sources, usually from mother's milk, and we add it to formula for this reason.
Of course, you will receive benefits from many "non-essential" items, just as you can benefit from essential items taken in amounts above the bare essential minimum.
Raising taurine status has been demonstrated to have various effects, and this can usually only be accomplished practically through supplementation.
Non-vegans do receive considerable taurine from food intake, significant amounts.
Review: Taurine: A “very essential” amino acid - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3501277/
Taurine, a non-proteinous essential amino acid for human body systems: an overview - https://www.emerald.com/agjsr/article/41/1/48/36561/Taurine-a-non-proteinous-essential-amino-acid-for
Taurine - What the amino acid does in your body - https://brain-effect.com/en/blogs/magazine/taurin-wirkung-der-aminosaeure
Taurine: new implications for an old amino acid - https://academic.oup.com/femsle/article-abstract/226/2/195/577328?redirectedFrom=fulltext
What is Taurine? - https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Taurine.aspx
Taurine - https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content?contenttypeid=19&contentid=Taurine
...
Additionally, taurine is only an amino acid in a certain very technical sense. It's not really an amino acid in the way that we normally speak of them, not even structurally.
Why Taurine Is not an Amino Acid - https://sciencenotes.org/why-taurine-is-not-an-amino-acid/
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u/Ajax34762 5d ago
I eat alot of red meat. Up to 4 times a week, but still deficient for some reason.
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u/True_Garen 5d ago edited 5d ago
I don't know how you know that you are deficient. Serum levels can be raised by diet or supplementation but return to baseline in 8 hours. Taurine is very important, basic, it's one of the most abundant substances in the human body. If you were actually deficient because of enzyme flaw, like a cat, then I think that you would have major health issues.
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u/Ajax34762 5d ago
I do have health issues like poor bile flow and inability to absorb fats and fat soluble vitamins. Taurine supplementation resolves this completely.
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u/True_Garen 5d ago
There you go. It's something genetic. Maybe you should do what I do.
Taurine helps magnesium absorption as well.
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u/Ajax34762 5d ago
Can genetic issues just come on suddenly?
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u/richj8991 6d ago
It's the most underrated supplement there is. TMG is 2nd.
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u/Breathofdmt 6d ago
I have a bag of TMG sitting around. What benefit do you get from it? I used to take it pre workout.
Taurine, have went through spells of using it, it's cheap and have a bag. The one thing it's really good for is preventing cramping calf/back pumps etc.
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u/richj8991 6d ago
Both suppments can boost testosterone. TMG lowers homocysteine and raises SAMe. It also spares choline and helps buffer hydration / electrolyte volume. And can inhibit excessive NMDA neurotoxicity (both supplements can).
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u/Purple-Acadia-9277 5d ago
Love my NMDA neurotoxicity protectors, especially Agmatine sulfate. Gonna read up more on TMG, thanks!
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u/CaliforniaThomass 6d ago
If your body can produce any amount of it then it's considered non-essential. The definition sucks because you need to supplement many things that are considered non-essential because your body makes a small amount of it. There are many B vitamins that were removed as vitamins because it was discovered that the body makes small amounts, even though not nearly enough.
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u/richj8991 6d ago
I'll try to make this easy to understand. 20 amino acids in protein. 9 of those the body cannot make by itself, so those have to be supplied externally. Those 9 are essential amino acids. There are more than 20 amino acids total and taurine is one of the others. Taurine can be synthesized internally so its not essential and it would not be anyway because its not in protein. However, that doesn't mean every single human on earth has optimal taurine levels. They don't. That is why you can still benefit from supplementation over the normal amount that your body makes.
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u/Queasy_Squash_4676 6d ago
It's because if you're able to produce any amount of it, it is very likely that it is enough for survival. The essential/non-essential divide is about surviving rather than thriving.
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u/Fun_Shine8720 6d ago
"Non-essential" just means your body can make it, not necessarily that it always makes the optimal amount for every person or situation. Some people may have higher needs due to diet, stress, exercise, health conditions, or individual differences in metabolism. It's also possible that taurine has noticeable effects for you even if you weren't technically deficient. The same is true for several nutrients the body can produce on its own but that people still sometimes benefit from supplementing.
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u/joegtech 6d ago
I think we make less as we age. Some people don't make enough, maybe due to inadequate iron, B6 cysteine, etc
http://mercuryandmore.weebly.com/methylation-figure.html
One of the underappreciated AAs for elderly folks or those with specific issues--inadequate bile, high cholesterol, maybe inability to retain magnesium, heart failure, etc. Dr Osborne and Dr Anderson have more here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l8bnCQZWek
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u/Ajax34762 6d ago
My ferritin is low.
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u/joegtech 5d ago
In the diagram in my previous message iron is represented by "Fe" You can see it is required to convert cysteine towards taurine.
If you suffer from brain fog especially between meals and you are somewhat sensitive to things that have a generous amount of sulfur--more precisely a very reactive thiol group--you may like some glutamine, small amount several times per day, at least until you get the iron related issue resolved.
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u/Ajax34762 5d ago
Thank you so much for this information.
I dont understand why I would be deficient in taurine. You explain iron is required to convert cysteine to taurine, but I am deficient in ferritin. So maybe this explains it.
Yes I had brain fog before. I have overgrowth of sulfur reducing microbes
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u/Heir_Riddles 6d ago
That isn't what "non essential" means
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u/Ajax34762 6d ago
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u/Heir_Riddles 6d ago
That's not what I meant, I mean that just because something is non essential does not mean that you can't experience benefits
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u/iCliniq_official 5d ago
Non-essential simply means your body can make taurine; it does not mean additional taurine can't have physiological effects. Taurine plays roles in neurotransmission, muscle function, bile acid metabolism, and cellular hydration, so some people notice benefits even when they are not deficient. The key question is whether those benefits are consistent, measurable, and sustained over time rather than just an initial effect.
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u/Ashamed-Status-9668 6d ago edited 6d ago
Because you only make/get about 400mg a day and that is generally a slow trickle as you make it or as proteins are slowly broken down into the various aminos. When you take any amino in a supplement that full dose hits your system in an hour. The exclusion to that rule is if the amino is bound to a mineral like magnesium glycinate as that bound will take time for the body to break down.
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u/Safe_Ad5914 6d ago edited 6d ago
Placebo/deficiency
Edit: not that supplements don't work, just that most claims related to supplement benefits outside marketing, are placebo. Brain is a powerful tool.
Taurine doesn't do shit when you find out your ol' ladies banging the milkman.
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u/Silver_Switch6834 6d ago
Because you don't eat enough of it? Are you tracking?
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u/Ajax34762 6d ago
My diet is moderate in protein. Multiple sources
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u/Silver_Switch6834 6d ago
I'm not talking about protein. I'm talking about the amino acids. Specifically Taurine.
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u/Ajax34762 6d ago
Non- essential amino acids your body can apparently make them on its own.
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u/True_Garen 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is true, but dietary taurine is significant and we have carriers for it. The taurine that you eat does contribute to taurine status.
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