Taurine's Health Benefits: Insights from Columbia Study - Mr Rajesh Upadhyay, Editor-in-Chief, JNM, speaks to Dr. Vijay Yadav

Taurine's Health Benefits: Leading a recent study, Dr. Vijay Yadav suggests that taurine, a well-known fitness supplement, could potentially contribute to a longer, healthier life. Jagran New Media Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, Rajesh Upadhyay discussed how Taurine protects against the cellular alterations that cause ageing with Dr. Vijay at the Columbia University Irving Medical Centre Campus.  

Dr. Yadav says that taurine levels in mice, monkeys, and humans were observed to decrease with age in the study. Taurine administration reversed this deficit, increasing the health span and lifespan in mice and the health span in monkeys. Taurine protects against the cellular alterations that cause ageing. 

Here, check the video of Dr. Vijay Yadav speaking to Mr Rajesh Upadhyay, Editor-in-Chief, JNM

Taurine's Impact on Ageing

As human society ages, it brings about shifts in our molecular composition. These alterations are not thoroughly understood, whether they serve as catalysts for ageing or are merely accompanying it. Dr. Vijay Yadav says, “So, to identify the molecules that change with age and can contribute to the ageing process we looked at in aged humans through a blood screen whether there are molecules that change with age and can participate in the ageing process. This study showed that one of the molecules that were highly downregulated in aged humans was Taurine. This made us interested in this molecule to see what this is and whether it regulates the process of ageing.” 

Back in 2012, Dr. Yadav investigated the role of Taurine in the ageing process. They assisted humans whether taurine levels and metabolite levels are correlated with health in 60-year-old humans. For that, they looked at 12,000 people with their longitudinal Health Data and measured their taurine and metabolite levels in the bloodstream. They found that people who had high taurine levels had lower obesity lower BMI, less liver damage, less inflammation, and lower hypertension. 

The overall health was improved compared to people who have low levels so together all these studies from lower species to higher species humans tell us that taurine deficiency is a driver of ageing because the reversal of this deficiency leads to higher lifespan and health span in different species.