Scientists have found that the concentration of taurine in the blood depends to a greater extent on the individual characteristics of a person than on his age. They came to this conclusion after measuring the levels of this amino acid throughout the life of almost a thousand people in three cohorts. Thus, the authors of the article published in Science have cast doubt on the hypothesis that taurine can be used as a marker of aging.
The amino acid taurine is not a part of proteins, but it performs many important functions in the body. It exhibits antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. In addition, it is necessary for the proper functioning of the cardiovascular, nervous and digestive systems. In recent studies, scientists have paid much attention to the role of taurine in the aging of the body - it was even suggested to consider it as one of the markers of aging. We told how scientists discovered that the serum concentration of taurine decreases with age in mice, rhesus macaques and humans. In addition, a study on mice showed that adding taurine to food prolongs life and improves health indicators.
Now another group of scientists, led by Rafael de Cabo of the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore, has cast doubt on their colleagues’ findings. He and his colleagues analyzed blood taurine levels in people aged 26 to 100 years from three cohorts: BLSA (742 people), PREMED (159 people), and the Balearic study (72 people). Blood samples were collected three to five times throughout life to track the long-term trend in blood taurine levels in the same people.
The researchers obtained results that contradict the findings of previous studies - taurine concentrations tended to increase with age (p < 0.001). However, their levels varied across cohorts. For example, in the largest BLSA cohort, taurine levels increased from an average of 58.81 micromoles per liter to 74.47 micromoles per liter in women and from 64.42 micromoles per liter to 67.99 micromoles per liter in men. The Balearic study cohort also showed an increase from an average of 36 micromoles per liter to 62.3 micromoles per liter in women and from an average of 37.7 micromoles per liter to 50.3 micromoles per liter in men. However, in the PREMED cohort, taurine levels did not change with age in men, although they generally increased in women. The researchers also measured taurine levels in mice and obtained similar results: taurine levels increased with age in females, while they remained unchanged in males. In addition, using linear regression, the scientists calculated that individual differences in taurine levels were more significant than age differences. Therefore, it cannot be used as a biomarker of aging. While remaining within normal values, taurine concentrations vary greatly depending on the group of people studied and their gender. Several years ago, taurine was also proposed for skin rejuvenation. In experiments, it served as an osmolyte and prevented age-related drying and wrinkling of the skin.
