Your body needs some cholesterol to produce certain hormones and give structure to cells, veins and arteries. All of the cholesterol you need is produced by your liver, but you also get additional cholesterol from your diet. Genetics, obesity or poor diet all play into abnormally high cholesterol levels. Taurine is an amino acid that may help improve your cholesterol levels when you increase it in your diet. Talk with your physician ahead of time to see if taurine is a good fit for you to help stabilize your blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol Levels
You need to pay attention to several numbers when reading your cholesterol report. Your total cholesterol should fall below 200 mg/dL, for optimal heart health. Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is the harmful cholesterol that can clog arteries and increase your risk of heart disease when levels get too high. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is the beneficial cholesterol that you need in higher amounts. HDL is often referred to as "good" cholesterol since it rids your body of excess LDL cholesterol. Your LDL should be below 100 mg/dL, while your HDL level should be above 60 mg/dL, the Mayo Clinic reports.
What is Taurine?
Taurine is a type of amino acid you get in your diet from meat and fish. You need taurine for neurological development and everyday brain function. Water and mineral salts in your blood stabilize and stay at normal levels with the help of taurine. Additionally, taurine is often studied for its antioxidant properties by alleviating oxidation and possibly assisting in lowering cholesterol levels. If you take a taurine supplement, you can safely consume as much as 3,000 mg, explains Katherine Zeratsky, a registered dietitian from the Mayo Clinic. Talk with your physician before you decide to take any kind of supplement, as a precautionary measure.
Cholesterol and Taurine
One study conducted by researchers at the Saitama Cancer Center in Japan and published in the "Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology" journal in 2003 looked into the effects of taurine on cholesterol levels in mice. High serum cholesterol may increase your risk of atherosclerosis, which is inflammation and hardening of the arteries caused by excess cholesterol buildup. At the end of the study, researchers concluded that taurine may slow down risk of atherosclerosis by decreasing oxidized substances that cause inflammation, as well as increasing HDL, the "good" cholesterol.
Additional Benefits
Further research conducted by researchers at the Inha University in Korea and published in the "Journal of Biomedical Science" looked into the effects of taurine on cholesterol. In the study, rats were fed a high-fat diet and were given lotus leaf hot water extract and some of the rats were also given taurine supplements. At the end of the study, all rats had lower total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, however the rats receiving additional taurine supplementation had the greatest improvement in cholesterol levels. Additionally, rats given taurine supplements had higher HDL cholesterol at the end of the six-week study. While all of this research shows beneficial effects of taurine on cholesterol levels, it is important to mention that very few studies exist on human subjects. Taurine may not have the same effect on humans as it does on rats.
References
- "Journal of Biomedical Science"; Antiobesity and Hypolipidemic Effects of Lotus Leaf Hot Water Extract With Taurine Supplementation in Rats Fed a High Fat Diet; H. Du, et al.; August 2010
- "Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology; Effects of Taurine on Serum Cholesterol Levels and Development of Atherosclerosis in Spontaneously Hyperlipidaemic Mice.; Y. Matsushima, et al.; April 2003
- MayoClinic.com; Taurine in Energy Drinks: What is it?; Katherine Zeratsky; June 2010
- MayoClinic.com; Cholesterol Levels: What Numbers Should You Aim For?; June 2011
