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Showing results for tags 'aging'.
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A recent article showing that taurine supplementation prolonged healthy life has caught a lot of media attention. If you want to read it, its free at https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.abn9257. (Added later - sorry, it doesnt appear to be at that address any longer, and you probably now have to pay for access too - I'll attach the PDF files to this thread so you can see it for free). Taurine levels in the blood normally drop as we get older. Taurine fed in food reverses this, slows down many age-related changes, and prolongs life. The life-prolonging effect was shown in mice. In monkeys taurine slowed age-related changes (however the experiment didnt see if their lives were prolonged, presumably because they didnt go on for long enough). In clinical studies in human beings, people who have low taurine serum levels have more degenerative changes, but they didnt test the effects of taurine supplementation in human beings. So it seems that having low taurine levels in the body is associated with many aspects of ageing, and this likely applies to human beings as well. Interestingly, exercise increases the taurine levels in the blood, and this may be one reason why exercise is good for us. The many aspects of ageing affected by low taurine included cellular senescence, telomerase deficiency, mitochondrial dysfunction, DNA damage, inflammation, abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension as well as depression and anxiety. It affects such a wide range of processes that it looks as though taurine is affecting some sort of “master switch” that affects the ageing process. One possibility is that we know that taurine is needed for energy production in the mitochondria. The mitochondria are the energy-producing organs in cells. In addition, they have another role – they promote cell death and senescence – the logic behind the evolution of this dual role is that if the energy production drops in a mitochondrion, evolution has decided that the mitochondrion is no longer any good, and kills it. Unfortunately, this also eventually leads to killing of the whole organism. In human beings, taurine has been used as a supplement for many years to improve athletic performance. The doses used have been 1-3 g/day. In the experiments described here, the amounts used in monkeys would be equivalent to 20g/day for a 80 kg person, though based on the mouse data there could be some positive effects with lower doses. The tested safe limit in human beings is 7 g/day, and the manufacturers of the supplement say don’t take more than 3g/day. So the amounts that we know to be safe in human beings are much less than used in the animal experiments; still there may be some effect. So while I prefer not to take any supplements, thinking “nature knows best” and preferring to rely on fresh air, exercise, good food and clean thoughts (or at least, three of those), this is one I am thinking of taking. Its available as a powder, and fairly cheap. I’ll probably use 3 g/day, and see how I get on. My interest is not so much living longer as such (though I may change my mind on that in years to come) but to stay in a healthy state for as long as possible. Singh et al 2023 Taurine deficiency ageing 2023.pdf
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Here's a short piece on grip strength measured against other indicators, through life. Interesting is the million or so Swedish adolescents entering military examination, and subsequently followed through their lives.. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2014/05/08/4000298.htm Thanks Simon T for this.
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- Grip Strength
- Aging
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