Taurine Decreases Oxidative Stress After Eccentric Exercise in Rats: Human Equivalent Dose ca. 3.5g-4g

Regular readers of the SuppVersity will certainly be familiar with the sulfur-amino-acid taurine and its various benefits on exercise performance, insulin sensitivity and weight management. So, it may not come as a surprise that a recent study conducted by young scientists from the Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences at the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense in Brazil found that 14-days "preloading" with 300mg/kg taurine per day reduced the exercise induced increase in oxidative stress in rats.

Taurine supplementation was found to decrease superoxide radical production, CK [creatine kinase], lipoperoxidation and carbonylation levels and increased total thiol content in skeletal muscle, but it did not affect antioxidant enzyme activity after EE [excentric exercise].

It is rather speculative, whether standard dose equivalent calculations apply to one situation or another - IF they did, you could probably get away with as little as 3.5-4.0g of taurine per day to achieve similar results. It would however warrant further investigations to find out, how, for example, the consumption of beta-alanine (cf. News on the Taurine vs. Beta Alanine Antagonism) would increase the need for supplemental taurine.

Additional advice: Do not buy your taurine in caps. Rather go for some bulk powder. It is cheap as hell and, at the suggested dose of 4.0g, a 500g pot will last you 125 days. And just another thing: Better take your taurine in divided doses. I've heard of people getting severe diarrhea from doses greater than 2g.