Taurine and Testosterone: Promising Androgenic Evidence
By Ali Kuoppala | Last reviewed Tue 25 September 2018
Medical Review by Gerardo Sison, PharmD
Taurine is a semi-essential organic amino acid that’s synthesized in the body from methionine and cysteine, comprising roughly 0,1% of the weight of the human body.
What makes taurine interesting is the fact that it’s the most prominent free amino-acid in the male testicles, and in breast milk. This hints that taurine may have a very important – yet not that clearly understood mechanism – in testicular function and testosterone production.
The fact that breast milk is loaded with taurine, hints that it may be more important for the human body than originally thought, as breast milk tends to contain everything that a small human needs to become a big human.
Here’s more about taurine and testosterone:
Taurine as a Potential Testosterone Booster
Taurine was originally isolated and discovered from the bull testicles back in 1827…
…And the fact that it was discovered from bull gonads, started a myth where some dumb idiots claimed – and still claim to this day – that taurine would be bull urine or semen (which it clearly is not).
We already know that taurine comprises about 50% of the amino acids in cardiac tissue and that when ingested, it significantly increases blood flow and arterial relaxation in human subjects.
We also know that it’s extremely important amino-acid for our central nervous system functioning, eyesight, calcium signaling, development and functioning of muscle tissue, and antioxidation.
However, in my opinion, the most interesting benefits of taurine are its effects for testosterone protection and production:
b) Furthermore taurine seems to protect testosterone molecules from the destructive effects of diabetes in an animal model (study, study).
c) In this study, taurine increased testicular SOD (superoxide mutase) and glutathione levels, both of which are extremely strong antioxidants. The same study also found out that it increases testicular nitric oxide production, improving blood flow inside the gonads, which in theory should increase testosterone production.
d) The researchers in this study saw that when a pregnant rat mommy is fed with a diet consisting of 1% taurine, her offspring have significantly higher baseline testosterone levels than placebo rat babies.
e) Up to 180% increases in serum testosterone levels took place in this animal study where the baby, adult, and elderly rats were fed with a diet consisting of 1% taurine.
f) This study replicated the 1% taurine diet on rats and found out similar results: testosterone (T), luteinizing hormone (LH), and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) were all significantly increased.
g) The researchers in this in-vitro study found out a possible mechanism of action on why taurine increases testosterone. It stimulated the human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) induced testosterone production.
As you can see, taurine is a very-very-very interesting amino-acid in terms of testosterone production, but the lack of human research raises concerns, as we’re not rats (even though we share remarkably similar endocrine and reproductive systems with them).
The amount of evidence in the animal model – and the fact that our gonads are filled with taurine – are both very promising hints of the possible benefits of taurine supplementation.
I have been using the pure taurine powder from Life Extensions for some time now, works like a charm.
Conclusion
Taurine seems to have some very interesting benefits in terms of testosterone production.
It’s effective at protecting testosterone molecules from oxidative damage and diabetes-induced low T. It also works by increasing the blood flow inside the testicles (and all around the body). And taurine stimulates hCG induced testosterone synthesis in an animal model.
So all-in-all, it’s a supplement with a lot of potential, but until more human research is conducted, take everything with a grain of salt, there are many supplements that show great promises on rodents but then fail to do anything significant in humans, there’s always a change that taurine is one of them.
For the optimal dosages of taurine, 5 grams taken 3 times a day is roughly the human equivalent of the dosages on the animal studies above.
Ali Kuoppala
