Taurine..Anybody Have Real Evidence

[Mulletsoldier]

Alright, as we all know it's spread like dogma that to combat the back pumps of AAS one should injest Taurine. Yet, with my research I wasn't able to find a credible study that would allude to why Taurine would do this. I also can't derive from my knowledge of it why exactly it would work in that manner. So, does anybody have scientific, not anecdotal evidence that Taurine's proccesses in the body would cause it to alleviate such cramping? Or is Taurine just one of BB'ing's greatest placebo effects?

 

[Mass_69]

Only thing I have seen on it referred to patients with liver cirrhosis. Seemed to help them w/muscle cramps at 3g/day orally.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8065051&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

 

[Mulletsoldier]

Only thing I have seen on it referred to patients with liver cirrhosis. Seemed to help them w/muscle cramps at 3g/day orally.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8065051&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum

That's good stuff, I had known that Taurine had effect on smooth muscle (liver, cardiac tissue) but I wonder if it's effects apply to skeletal muscle. But keep 'em coming.

 

[rocketscientist]

Don't diss taurine!

But seriously - I was looking for the same as you when I posted some taurine articles a while ago and wound up with the same result.

However, as anecdotally as it is - and for what it's worth, the effects of taurine on backpumps are very noticable. In range from 1-10 I would give it a 10 (which beats any headache medicine) - meaning they make the backpumps go from 'wanting to kill yourself' to basically non-existent, something other supplements like potassium can not do (at least for me).

Anyway - here's what I found - look at Cardiovascular Effects (in particular the part about Na+ regulation) and see if that could explain something(?)

 

[Mulletsoldier]

That was a good article actually, I could see the positive effect on Na+ regulation being translated to this application.

 

[Rivet]

Or is Taurine just one of BB'ing's greatest placebo effects?

I don’t use it so much for "pumps" but use it with caffeine. I add a little bit of taurine to my coffee in the morning and it has a nice "synergy" for me. I get all the energy yet it cuts the edginess/ jitters down and allows me to drink more before experiencing caffeine burnout. Ive read about others doing this as well. Never looked more into it however....

 

[fog_hat1981]

Alright, as we all know it's spread like dogma that to combat the back pumps of anabolic steroids one should injest Taurine. Yet, with my research I wasn't able to find a credible study that would allude to why Taurine would do this. I also can't derive from my knowledge of it why exactly it would work in that manner. So, does anybody have scientific, not anecdotal evidence that Taurine's proccesses in the body would cause it to alleviate such cramping? Or is Taurine just one of BB'ing's greatest placebo effects?

http://www.ms-se.com/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-200205000-00011.htm;jsessionid=GG4c9KSN0G5yXCP0S74m8vvrhxQQ4h5Y9xhh5kKhMS3N5RRmZTzs!-818462210!-949856145!8091!-1

You can get more than just the abstract but I didn't go that far. Notice the skeletal muscle depletion etc...

Decreased taurine concentration in skeletal muscles after exercise for various durations.

BASIC SCIENCES

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 34(5):793-797, May 2002.
MATSUZAKI, YASUSHI; MIYAZAKI, TERUO; MIYAKAWA, SYUNPEI; BOUSCAREL, BERNARD; IKEGAMI, TADASHI; TANAKA, NAOMI
Abstract:
MATSUZAKI, Y., T. MIYAZAKI, S. MIYAKAWA, B. BOUSCAREL, T. IKEGAMI, and N. TANAKA. Decreased taurine concentration in skeletal muscles after exercise for various durations. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 34, No. 5, pp. 793-797, 2002.

Purpose: To examine the changes of taurine concentrations in blood and skeletal muscles after transient exercise.

Methods: Rats were placed on a treadmill set at 25 m[middle dot]min-1. The animals were divided into four groups: control (no exercise) and exercise groups 1, 2, and 3. The exercise duration for groups 1, 2, and 3 was 30, 60, and 100 +/- 12.5 min (to exhaustion: mean +/- SD), respectively. We examined the plasma concentrations of taurine and lactate, the serum concentrations of sodium and chloride ions, as well as the skeletal muscle taurine content in the soleus (slow-twitch fiber dominant type), gastrocnemius (slow- and fast-twitch fiber mix type), and plantaris and extensor digitorum longus (fast-twitch fiber dominant type) muscles.

Results: Although the plasma taurine concentration was not affected by the increased exercise duration, that in skeletal muscles was significantly decreased. The gastrocnemius and plantaris muscles from the exercise group 3 had a significantly lower concentration of taurine than those of the control group. The extensor digitorum longus taurine concentration from the different exercise groups was significantly decreased compared with that from the control group. However, there was no significant difference among the exercise groups.

Conclusion: Taurine concentration was decreased in all skeletal muscles after exercise, regardless of the duration. Moreover, this decrease was specific to fast-twitch dominant fibers. However, under these conditions, the plasma taurine concentration remained unchanged.

(C)2002The American College of Sports Medicine

P.S. The article above is probably one of the most cited sources on the topic - especially when it comes to the use of clen and the need for taurine in conjunction with....

http://www.springerlink.com/(4xoz21554myunt55vzqxr045)/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,23,32;journal,19,58;linkingpublicationresults,1:102031,1

Journal of Orthopaedic Science
Publisher: Springer Tokyo
ISSN: 0949-2658 (Paper) 1436-2023 (Online)
DOI: 10.1007/s10776-002-0636-1
Issue: Volume 8, Number 3

Date: May 2003
Pages: 415 - 419
Effects of taurine administration in rat skeletal muscles on exercise


Yoshihisa Yatabe A1, Shumpei Miyakawa A1, Teruo Miyazaki , Yasushi Matsuzaki , Naoyuki Ochiai A1

A1 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba 305-8575, Japan


Abstract:


 To investigate the effects of taurine administration on exercise, we studied taurine concentrations in rat skeletal muscles after endurance running and the duration of running time to exhaustion, with and without taurine administration. For study 1 we divided 40 male SD rats into two groups: endurance exercise group (n = 20) and sedentary control group (n = 20). Each was further divided into two groups; one received distilled water (n = 10) and the other taurine solution in water 0.5 g/kg/day orally (n = 10) for 2 weeks. The exercise group performed treadmill running (60 min) once only after their nursing period. For study 2, we divided 10 male SD rats into two groups; one (n = 5) received taurine 0.5 g/kg/day, and the other (n = 5) received no taurine for 2 weeks; the two groups then performed treadmill running to exhaustion. In study 1, taurine administration increased taurine concentrations in leg skeletal muscles, whereas the concentrations were significantly lower in the exercised groups without taurine administration. Taurine administration reduced the decrease in taurine concentration in skeletal muscles on exercise. In study 2, the duration of running time to exhaustion was significantly increased by taurine administration. We concluded that peroral administration of taurine maintains the taurine concentration in skeletal muscle on exercise and up-regulates physical endurance.



http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/304/1/453


Enhanced Dystrophic Progression in mdx Mice by Exercise and Beneficial Effects of Taurine and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1
Annamaria De Luca, Sabata Pierno, Antonella Liantonio, Michela Cetrone, Claudia Camerino, Bodvael Fraysse, Massimo Mirabella, Serenella Servidei, Urs T. Rüegg and Diana Conte Camerino

Department of Pharmacobiology, Unit of Pharmacology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy (A.D.L., S.P., A.L., M.C., C.C., B.F., D.C.C.); Institute of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, A. Gemelli Catholic University, Rome, Italy (M.M., S.S.); and Institute of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland (U.T.R.)

A preclinical screening for prompt-to-use drugs that are safer than steroids and beneficial in Duchenne muscular dystrophy was performed. Compounds able to reduce calcium-induced degeneration (taurine or creatine 10% in chow) or to stimulate regeneration [insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1); 50 or 500 µg/kg s.c.] were administered for 4 to 8 weeks to mdx mice undergoing chronic exercise on a treadmill, a protocol to worsen dystrophy progression. -Methyl-prednisolone (PDN; 1 mg/kg) was used as positive control. The effects were evaluated in vivo on forelimb strength and in vitro electrophysiologically on the macroscopic chloride conductance (gCl), an index of degeneration-regeneration events in mdx muscles, and on the mechanical threshold, a calcium-sensitive index of excitation-contraction coupling. The exercise produced a significant weakness and an impairment of gCl, by further decreasing the already low value of degenerating diaphragm (DIA) and fully hampering the increase of gCl typical of regenerating extensor digitorum longus (EDL) mdx muscle. The already negative voltage threshold for contraction of mdx EDL was also slightly worsened. Taurine > creatine > IGF-1 counteracted the exercise-induced weakness. The amelioration of gCl was drug- and muscle-specific: taurine was effective in EDL, but not in DIA muscle; IGF-1 and PDN were fully restorative in both muscles, whereas creatine was ineffective. An acute effect of IGF-1 on gCl was observed in vitro in untreated, but not in IGF-1-treated exercised mdx muscles. Taurine > PDN > IGF-1, but not creatine, significantly ameliorated the negative threshold voltage values of the EDL fibers. The results predict a potential benefit of taurine and IGF-1 for treating human dystrophy.

 

[BigMattTx]

Good topic guys. I think Taurine is one of the most underrated supps. I mix it in with my creatine for pre/post workout. Great for pumps and cramps too.