L-Taurine is a non essential amino acid. However, despite its lack of essentiality, L-taurine is still very important in human nutrition. Supplemental L-taurine appears to have a number of beneficial effects and one of these may be the normalisation of blood lipids. For example, in one study, supplemental L-taurine, administered orally at 3 grams per day to healthy subjects, significantly reduced serum triglycerides. This suggests that L-taurine could be a cardioprotective agent and that it may prevent the degradation of the vascular systems. The ability to lower triglyceride levels would also suggest that L-taurine may have insulin sensitising effects as elevated levels of triglycerides are associated with insulin resistance and weight gain. Animal studies evaluating the effects of L-taurine on weight loss are not consistent, but some evidence does support the use of L-taurine as a beneficial supplement for aiding weight loss. This may relate to the effects L-taurine may have on cell volume and membrane fluidity.
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