Misc What exactly does Taurine do?

[Mycophile]

Maybe this isn't a good thread to put here but I'm just wondering what Taurine really does to the brain and body and what some of its uses are and why some people take it??

I don't drink red bull (though I drink a SHIT LOAD of coffee) but the other day I decided to buy some Taurine pills to try them out.

I just took my second one 1 hour ago and don't feel much of anything.

I know it's not a "drug" perse but I thought maybe it might help me cut down on coffee which I am trying to do now because i have heard that it helps with the caffeine jitters but I also heard L-Theanine does that which I have also experimented with and found that it does help for that.

I have also heard Taurine potentiates benzos, is this true??


I was also wondering if Taurine has any performance enhancing effects for sports?


And what, if any positive or negative interactions might Taurine have with: Kratom, Klonopin, Phenibut, L-Theanine, Caffeine, Melatonin, Alcohol and Lexapro?

From what I've read it has effects on GABA so shouldn't it do something in a combo with some of the above, especially things like L-Theanine, Klonopin and Phenibut?


Thanks

 

[deos68]

wasting money and time go onto the NXT!!!!

 

[Mad Dash]

Actually one interesting fact about taurine is that it is being used to treat fatty liver cirrhosis: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19239162

 

[Mycophile]

wasting money and time go onto the NXT!!!!

What's NXT?

Is that just short for NXT?

 

[sekio]

I think he means, "go onto the next [one]", as in, find yourself a better drug to take.

The only things I can tell you right off the top of my head are:
Taurine is a sulfonic acid analogue of an amino acid we have in our body, called glycine.
Humans don't need to consume it to survive. Cats and other felines do, though, so it's a common additive to cat food. (The retinas of kitties tend to degenrate as well as all sorts of other nasty health issues if they're deficient).
Your body combines taurine with chloesterol-type compounds to make the bile acids it uses to aid in digestion of fatty foods.

I don't think it's considered to have a sedative or calming effect though. To my kowledge it's basically harmless filler in a healthy human being. No bad effects, but nothing to make you run out and buy a bottle of taurine either.

 

[Mycophile]

I think he means, "go onto the next [one]", as in, find yourself a better drug to take.

The only things I can tell you right off the top of my head are:
Taurine is a sulfonic acid analogue of an amino acid we have in our body, called glycine.
Humans don't need to consume it to survive. Cats and other felines do, though, so it's a common additive to cat food. (The retinas of kitties tend to degenrate as well as all sorts of other nasty health issues if they're deficient).
Your body combines taurine with chloesterol-type compounds to make the bile acids it uses to aid in digestion of fatty foods.

I don't think it's considered to have a sedative or calming effect though. To my kowledge it's basically harmless filler in a healthy human being. No bad effects, but nothing to make you run out and buy a bottle of taurine either.

Hmmm, guess I wasted my money then.

One of the problems with curiosity I guess...

Do you have any guess as to why they put it in Red Bull then?

And there's an old thread in the chemistry/neurology forum where someone said they thought it potentiated benzos, but I am guessing you've heard nothing about that or you'd have said so.

 

[Erikmen]

I think he means, "go onto the next [one]", as in, find yourself a better drug to take.

The only things I can tell you right off the top of my head are:
Taurine is a sulfonic acid analogue of an amino acid we have in our body, called glycine.
Humans don't need to consume it to survive. Cats and other felines do, though, so it's a common additive to cat food. (The retinas of kitties tend to degenrate as well as all sorts of other nasty health issues if they're deficient).
Your body combines taurine with chloesterol-type compounds to make the bile acids it uses to aid in digestion of fatty foods.

I don't think it's considered to have a sedative or calming effect though. To my kowledge it's basically harmless filler in a healthy human being. No bad effects, but nothing to make you run out and buy a bottle of taurine either.

^ Interested.
I have seen Taurine listed in some of these energetic drinks like some sort of vitamin. Didn´t make sense to me.
It induces us to believe it´s gonna make you feel better or vigorous, i.e. supposedly to act like caffeine.

 

[Hodor]

Hmmm, guess I wasted my money then.

One of the problems with curiosity I guess...

Do you have any guess as to why they put it in Red Bull then?

Mostly for placebo reasons and to differentiate it from similar products.

Energy drinks originally come from Japan, where they were basically marketed as "health tonics" that would revitalize you with various vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, although the most effective ones were naturally those that also contained caffeine.

Their popularity with truck drivers across Asia inspired a Thai product called "Krating Daeng", which is Thai for "Red Bull". In order for the name to make sense, it contained Taurine, a substance named after the bull bile ("taurus" = "bull" in Latin) it was first discovered in.

An Austrian toothpaste sales rep bought a can of Krating Daeng to help with his jet lag and liked it so much he decided to license the product, tweak the recipe and bring it to the West under the English name "Red Bull". Here, the product sold on notoriety instead of being presented as "healthy" like its Japanese forebears - "hey Hans, try zis drink, ja, it has taurine in it which has something to do with bulls. I think it is made from bull testicles or something, so it will give you ze energy and sexual appetite of a charging bull."
And since pretty much all energy drinks on Western store shelves are more or less ripoffs of Red Bull, most of them have taurine in it.

 

[speedballs_over]

IIRC, the red bull in Thailand and Vietnam (or was it Cambodia?) is much "stronger" than in the US. Similar to a full cup of espresso compared to a full cup of weak coffee. That stuff was too much for me and my traveling companions to drink a full 12 oz can. The cans are also a bit different in design, pretty cool, wish I could remember more... I think in general they're in a much smaller can than in the US, probably b/c they're so strong, I assume that's the caffeine in them that's much greater than that used in American versions. I am sensitive to caffeine, I don't enjoy being jittery from it.