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The dangers of Taurine on kids

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After speaking to a nutritionist today, I have decided to take Stink off the Taurine. Despite how well he is doing tic wise (see previous post) I was advised it can be very bad for kids. It acts as a stimulate and can greatly damage the heart. That scared me.

What is Taurine?

Taurine is an amino acid sold in supplements and available in energy drinks. Taurine also occurs naturally in the body and plays a key role in many biological processes, such as detoxification and regulation of nerve-cell activity. Although low levels of taurine have been linked to several conditions (including eye diseases and cardiovascular problems), research on the health benefits of taurine supplements is limited.

Taking Stink off Taurine Slowly

Rather than quit cold turkey, I’m going to take him down to one pill/day for a week, then every other day for a week, then one, then none.

Always Check with a Professional Before Using Supplements

Normally I don’t willy nilly medicate my kids, but I had read on many mom forums that Taurine was this miracle supplement and went for it. I won’t be doing that again.

For those who are praying type, I am asking for prayers that his tics continue to stay minimal and that the NAC and Magnesium Citrate were what was helping him and not the Taurine.

Here’s one supporting article on the dangers of Taurine for kids.

Until next time…

May God grant you the serenity to accept the tics you cannot change, change the tics you can, and have the wisdom to know the difference.

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10 Comments

  1. Hi,
    I have a form of Parkinson’s and I take Taurine as a powder supplement about
    1-3g once a day and it has helped me tremendously, the tremors are almost gone and it has helped me with concentration and an increased my blood flow. Been supplementing with Taurine for 6 months now and I love it. I don’t eat meat not fish so this works perfectly for me.
    Blessings

  2. I believe NAC is N Acetyl Cysteine. I believe it helps with clearing toxins from mucosal membranes. Not real sure, however, I was considering its use along with taurine to get my son off some medications.

  3. As for your fear that Taurine “acts as a stimulate” I am not quite sure what you/the nutritionist mean? Are you thinking Taurine may have the stimulant effects comparable to ADHD medications like Concerta, Rittalin or Adderall? Possibly being addictive just like those of Central Stimulantia?

    Without even digging through studies to confirm what I’m saying, I’m just quickly going to talk from personal experience as a person with ADHD that have taken both Taurine and above ADHD medication:
    Taurine is not addictive
    Taurine does not make you high (not even a tiny buzz)
    Comparing Taurine to Central Stimulants is like comparing a Tomato to Whiskey
    Taurine does not even have stimulant effect of coffee, Tea or a sugar rush,

    I assume that this somewhat strange Idea could come from the fact that Taurine is added as an ingredient in Energy drinks like Red bull. Thought process going something like this:
    Energy drinks=Stimulating -> Taurine = Energy drink ingredient->Taurine=must also be stimulating :D

    Well Taurine is not stimulating. Taurine is added into Energy drink because according to studies+ user reports it may lower the negative side effect of Caffeine (the actual stimulating ingredient) while perhaps enhancing some of Caffeine’s positive nootropic effect, like slightly better concentration.

    Since you have given Taurine to your child already and found it positive, I’m assuming that you did not find your child being “high”, “speedy” or “crazy” in any way ? Don’t worry, if Taurine actually was a stimulant, after giving it to your child I’m sure you would have noticed undesirable behavior quite quickly.

    Since Taurine has a number of positive health benefits on your body. Taking Taurine may remove loads of unnecessary bad stuff going on, making you more balanced and overall healthier. When your body is healthy your sense of wellbeing and energy levels may naturally increase. This does not make Taurine a stimulant thou.

  4. Here have some actual Taurine studies on its effects on the heart, you can show these to your nutritionist

    *Taurine Improving Blood Flow (all the way back to normal values for diabetic patients)*

    Two weeks taurine supplementation reverses endothelial dysfunction in young male type 1 diabetics.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20667936

    *Despite the improvement in blood flow, No significant influence on blood pressure with Taurine supplementation*

    Effect of taurine supplementation on exercise capacity of patients with heart failure.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21334852

    Two weeks taurine supplementation reverses endothelial dysfunction in young male type 1 diabetics.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20667936

    *Taurine does not significant influence on heart rate (contradicting the “its may be Taurines fault” guess in the energydrink study in my previus comment)*

    Effect of taurine supplementation on exercise capacity of patients with heart failure.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21334852

    Two weeks taurine supplementation reverses endothelial dysfunction in young male type 1 diabetics.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20667936

    The effect of acute taurine ingestion on endurance performance and metabolism in well-trained cyclists.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20739720

    *Taurine increase exercise capacity after heart failure*

    Effect of taurine supplementation on exercise capacity of patients with heart failure.
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21334852

  5. In the article you linked the negative side effects mentioned are NOT the effects of Taurine, but the effects seen in a study of Energy drinks (Containing Caffeine + Taurine, among other things)

    “Taurine can affect your heart rate: This side effect has been found to be true” This is not “found to be true” at all! It’s just an incorrect layman’s Interpretation of this study:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16699827
    The woman writing this article has not even bothered to read the actual study she referring to. She just read the last sentence of the summary, making her own assumptions after that. The sentence is:

    “The heart rate decline may have been caused by pressure-induced bradycardia that was triggered by caffeine ingestion and perhaps enhanced by the actions of taurine.”

    If you want to interpret scientific studies correctly, and not just to get a lot of clicks on your article, you need to take them very literarily and break every sentences down like this:

    “The heart rate decline” (in this specific study actually measured heart rate decline)

    “MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED” (meaning this is just a speculation and not proven in any way)

    “by pressure-induced bradycardia” (they SPECULATE this MAYBE or MAYBE NOT could be the direct cause to the heart rate decline in this study)

    “triggered by caffeine ingestion” (they SPECULATE, that MAYBE or MAYBE NOT caffeine triggered the pressure-induced bradycardia, Note that this is now a speculation on a speculation)

    “AND PERHAPS” (again, they are stating they are freely guessing)

    “enhanced by the actions of taurine” (now we are at a Guessing level 3: a speculation on a speculation on a speculation. They are saying there PERHAPS, MAY or MAY NOT BE a possibility that Taurine enhanced something (they do not know what that something could possibly be in that case) that made it easier for the caffeine SPECULATIVELY causing bradycardia, which SPECULATIVELY caused heart rate decline)

    As you can tell there is nothing in above sentence saying that there is a direct link between Taurine and heart rate decline. At maximum it says Taurine MAY or MAY NOT enhance Caffeine effects, other studies on Taurine should be read, or new ones be made to confirm or dismiss this guess. Luckily there are more studies done on only Taurine and its effect on the heart, all of these studies show heart benefits.

    Also one should note; if they actually had found any proven direct link between taurine and heart rate decline in this study, it would 100% be clearly specified in the summary. It could read something like this: “We found Taurine increased heart rate decline xx% on healthy subjects, compared to placebo at xx%, this result was found clinically significant” Notice that the example sentence is free of any speculative terms like “may” “perhaps” “assumed”. Since this is not the case by a long shot in above study, no link was found.

    The reason they are bringing Taurine up as a guess in this case at all, could be as simple as Taurine being one of the ingredients included in the study thus it must be included as a possible aspect. There could also be some previously proven effect (good or bad) of Taurine on specific molecules in specific body parts, that may make the above guess a slightly more plausible educated guess as well. Without reading the whole study we do not know which one it is in this case.

    heart rate decline btw is nothing more than a lower pulse, which many people would find as a positive benefit and not an undesirable side effect :P

  6. Sources for above comment:

    *Cardiac arrest causes Ischemia*
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_arrest
    Cardiac arrest is a sudden loss of blood flow resulting from the failure of the heart to effectively pump

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ischemia
    Ischemia or ischaemia is a restriction in blood supply to tissue

    *Ischemia causes cell swelling*
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3904795/
    During prolonged ischemia, ATP levels and intracellular pH decrease as a result of anaerobic metabolism and lactate accumulation. As a consequence, ATPase-dependent ion transport mechanisms become dysfunctional, contributing to increased intracellular and mitochondrial calcium levels (calcium overload), cell swelling and rupture, and cell death by necrotic, necroptotic, apoptotic, and autophagic mechanisms.

    http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2009/08/cprl1-0908.html
    a patient in a comatose state as the result of a cardiac arrest, one cause of hypoxic-ischemic coma, a condition with many … charge inside the cell membrane relative to that of the fluid just outside the membrane) are depleted, causing the cell to depolarize and the cellbody to swell.

    http://circres.ahajournals.org/content/circresaha/49/2/364.full.pdf
    We conclude that ischemic cells become hyperosmotic and consequently take up additional fluid when exposed to normotonic blood. This increased cell swelling compresses capillaries, prevents reperfusion, and may be a major factor in causing reperfusion damage.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5007042
    cell swelling in ischemic…

    http://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/2009/08/cprl1-0908.html
    a patient in a comatose state as the result of a cardiac arrest, one cause of hypoxic-ischemic coma, a condition with many … charge inside the cell membrane relative to that of the fluid just outside the membrane) are depleted, causing the cell to depolarize and the cellbody to swell.

    *Taurine normalizes cell swelling*
    http://www.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/ajpcell.00104.2007
    swelling-induced taurine efflux, volume-sensitive taurine efflux

    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167488900000239
    Taurine contributes as an osmolyte to regulatory volume decrease (RVD)

    • Alaina, thank you very much for your comments! I want to give my nephew magnesium citrate and taurine because he has tourette’s and when i read what this writer has written about the dangers of taurine, it made me sad BUT Thanks to your comments because now i am full of hope again that these supplements might help with my nephew’s tics. Thank you again and God bless you.

  7. Hi may I ask what NAC is? I followed a link to you because I am considering putting my son on Taurine. I was curious about NAC

  8. Howdy, the report link you shared about “the dangers of taurine in kids”, only reports on the effects of taurine and caffeine together(energy drinks), not about taurine on its own in natural form.

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