Taurine at 3g daily for about two months, what I noticed

Posted by midwest_scientist in Longevity & Anti-Aging - 8 points, 6 comments.

I started taking taurine about eight weeks ago after reading the 2023 healthspan stuff that came out. Honestly I was a bit skeptical because it is cheap and everyone suddenly jumped on it, but I figured why not. I take 3 grams in the morning, sometimes split with another gram before training.

For me the most noticeable thing was endurance. I do cycling three times a week and my legs just felt less heavy on climbs, like I could push a bit longer before that burning feeling kicked in. Could be placebo or could just be a good training month, I cannot rule that out. But it felt consistent across weeks.

Sleep seemed a bit deeper too, I wake up less during the night. I know taurine acts on GABA receptors so that maybe makes sense, but again just my own experience.

I have not noticed any skin or major aging biomarker changes, that would be unrealistic to expect in two months. No side effects at all, maybe slightly looser stool one day but I eat a lot of fibre so hard to say what caused it.

Anyone here running it longer term or at higher doses? Curious if the endurance effect holds up or fades over time.

Comments

• fasted_scientist: I tried taurine at around 2-3g for maybe three months last year, mostly for the sleep angle rather than endurance. Sleep thing felt similar to what you describe, slightly less waking up, nothing dramatic. I stopped for a couple weeks and didn't notice a massive crash so I do wonder how much of it was just a mild calming effect that you adapt to. The endurance bit is interesting though. There is some decent data on taurine and time to exhaustion in cycling studies, not just internet hype. But th
• midwest_scientist: The 5g acute dose is interesting, I was basing my timing on nothing really, just morning habit. I might try taking a bigger single dose about an hour before my next ride and see if the endurance effect gets more obvious. Honestly the sleep thing could well be mild adaptation like you said, I also did not feel any crash when I forgot it for a few days on holiday. Makes me wonder if the cycling benefit is the more real part.
• tracker_jade: I’ve also noticed a small bump in sleep quality but nothing huge. Did you try taking it closer to workout vs morning? Curious if timing changes the endurance effect for you.
• midwest_scientist: Honestly I mostly kept it in the morning because I was worried taking it too close to training would mess with my stomach. But a few times I took that extra gram about 30 minutes before cycling instead of after, and I cannot say I noticed a clear difference in endurance. The effect seemed more cumulative than acute for me, but I never properly tested it. Might be worth trying a week of pre-workout only to see if it stands out more.
• tracker_jade: Anecdotally I felt the same thing, the endurance stuff seemed more reliable than any sleep changes. I tried 5g pre-workout once and honestly did not notice a huge difference versus my usual 3g split, but I was doing lifts not cardio so hard to compare. Are you gonna keep the 3g baseline and just add extra before rides, or swap to the bigger dose entirely?
• midwest_scientist: Yeah I think I will keep the 3g baseline and just add the extra gram before longer rides. Your 5g experiment is useful to hear, honestly if you did not feel much difference at 5g then pushing higher seems like diminishing returns for me too. Are you taking yours all at once or splitting it?

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