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Can Taurine Help Depression?

Jul 3, 2011 | By Alicia Miller
Can Taurine Help Depression?
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Depressive disorders, such as major depression, dysthymia, seasonal affective disorder and postpartum depression, can devastate your overall sense of well-being and ability to function in everyday life. While specific treatments, like medication and psychotherapy, can help improve symptoms, researchers are busy trying to determine the specific causes of these disorders in an effort to improve treatment options. Some research has shown that people with depression have altered levels of taurine in their brains. However, there is little evidence to confirm the benefits of taurine supplementation on depressive symptoms.

About Taurine

If you've ever had an energy drink, you might have noticed that taurine is one of the main ingredients. Taurine is thought to benefit mental and athletic performance, although clinical evidence supporting this claim is limited. According to Mayo Clinic nutritionist Katherine Zeratsky, taurine is an amino acid that plays an important role in neurological development and helps maintain water and mineral salt levels in your blood. Taurine is found naturally in dietary sources such as seafood and meat. While some people believe that taurine supplementation may help depression, clinical evidence to support its benefits are scarce.

Depression and Conventional Treatments

Depression just isn't a matter of feeling down in the dumps or blue. It is a clinical disorder that causes serious symptoms that can have a major impact on your life. Some of the common symptoms of depression include low self-esteem, crying spells and frequent tearfulness, apathy, anxiety, fatigue, irritability, a lack of motivation, sleep and appetite changes and, in some cases, suicidal thoughts or gestures. Conventional treatment for depression usually involves a combination of psychotherapy and medication. Some people prefer to use natural remedies, such as exercise, yoga, meditation or herbs and dietary supplements, such as taurine. However, not much evidence exists to validate claims that taurine can improve symptoms of depression.

Clinical Evidence

Most of the studies evaluating the effects of taurine on mental disorders have been performed on laboratory animals. A clinical study, published in 2008 in the "Israel Journal of Psychiatry & Related Sciences," examined the effects of taurine supplementation on laboratory rats subjected to the open field, black/white box and forced swim tests, clinical tests often used to examine the effects of certain substances on laboratory animals. The results found that taurine did not produce any significant antidepressant, stimulant or anxiety-reducing effects. However, another study, published in the February 2006 issue of the journal "Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior," showed that taurine had an anxiolytic, or anxiety-reducing, effect on laboratory mice subjected to the open field, hole-board, and social interaction tests. Another study, published in 1995 in the journal "European Neuropsychopharmacology," showed that depressed patients had higher plasma levels of taurine when compared to normal control-study participants. However, more research is needed to fully examine the potential benefits of taurine on patients suffering from depressive disorders.

Considerations

While a limited amount of clinical research suggests some potential benefits of taurine supplementation on certain depressive symptoms, there is not evidence to suggest that taurine is a useful treatment for depression. If you plan to use a taurine supplement, inform your doctor. However, you should never use dietary supplements as a replacement for conventional medical advice. Consult your doctor if you are suffering from depression. Depression may become worse if not properly treated.

References

Article reviewed by Vesna Vuynovich Kovach Last updated on: Jul 3, 2011

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