Taurine Increases Fatty Acid Oxidation During Aerobic Exercise
Figure 1: Molecular structure of L-Taurine (HMDB v2.5) |
In view of the fact, that shifting exercise metabolism from carbohydrate to fatty acid oxidation is desirable not only for dieters, but for endurance athletes as well (even a lean marathon runner has much more energy stored as fat reserves than in his glycogen reservoirs), dieters and athletes may well benefit from pre-exercise supplementation of taurine. While the former might marginally increase fat loss, the latter could well improve their endurance, although the scientists could not measure direct effect on time-trial perfomance.
Further evidence for taurine's positive effect on exercise endurance comes from a 2009 study by Yatabe et.al., who found that in rats supplemented with taurine "time to exhaustion was significantly increased by taurine administration" (Yatabe. 2009).