Effects Of Daily Taurine Intake For 6 Months On Biological Age and Body Metabolism Indicators As Well As Physical Fitness In 55-75-year-old Women And Men (TauAge)

Effect Of Daily Taurine Supplementation For 6 Months On Biological Age and Metabolic Biomarkers As Well As Physical Fitness In 55-75-year-old Women And Men: A Randomized Controlled Intervention Study

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate the effect of taking 4 grams of taurine by older adults on aging processes over a period of 6 months. It will also check for effects of taurine on participant's physical fitness, metabolic and cognitive functions. The main question it aims to answer is:

• Does a supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily over a period of 6 months slow down biological aging in humans? Researchers will compare supplementation with taurine to a placebo (a look-alike substance that contains no drug) to reliably determine whether taurine has an effect.

Participants will:

• Take 4g of taurine or a placebo every day for 6 months
• Visit the study site 4 times for checkups and tests: for a screening visit, at the beginning of the intervention, after 8 and 24 weeks

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Physical Activity; DNA Methylation; Sport; Dietary Supplement; Metabolic Health; Taurine; Anti-Aging; Aging, Biological; Longevity
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: 4g of taurine daily; Dietary supplement: Placebo

Detailed Description

Measurements performed during study visits:

• Biological age estimate via proteome analysis
• Organ age estimates (proteomics)
• DNA methylation
• Inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, cytokines)
• Metabolic variables: fasting blood glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, HbA1c, lipids, BMI
• Physical fitness (hand grip strength, leg extensor strength, PWC130)
• Resting energy expenditure
• Cognitive function via questionnaire
• Quality of life
• Heart rate variability
• Physical activity, nutrition

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 90
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Germany
  • Munich, Germany, 80992
    • Institute for Nutritional Medicine of Technical University of Munich

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• women or men
• Age 55 - 75
• BMI 22 - 30 kg/m²
• written consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Acute or chronic inflammation (e.g. flu infection)
• Severe chronic illness (e.g., Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes mellitus, COPD, renal insufficiency)
• Myocardial infarction or stroke in the previous 6 months
• Psychiatric disorder, including depression or dementia
• Weight change of ≥ 5 kg in the last 6 months

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo	Dietary supplement: Placebo; Controll group (4g of placebo/day): 2g of placebo (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the morning and 2g of placebo (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the evening for 6 months
Active Comparator: 4g of taurine daily; Intervention group (4g of taurine/day): 2g of taurine (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the morning and 2g of taurine (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the evening for 6 months	Dietary supplement: 4g of taurine daily; Intervention group (4g of taurine/day): 2g of taurine (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the morning and 2g of taurine (4 capsules, 500mg each) in the evening for 6 months

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline in Biological Age At 6 Months (Proteome Analysis)	The primary objective of the study is to answer the following research question: Does a 6-month supplementation with 4g of taurine daily slow down biological aging in humans? Biological age will be determined using a plasma proteome analysis and established machine learning models based on plasma and urine samples. This will also include an analysis of organ-specific aging.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline in Biological Age At 6 Months (DNA Methylation)	The primary objective of the study is to answer the following research question: Does a 6-month supplementation with 4g of taurine daily slow down biological aging in humans? Biological age will be estimated by assessing DNA methylation patterns (epigenetic clock) from plasma, urine, and oral mucosa samples.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change From Baseline In Cognitive Functions at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily influence parameters of mental health? Methods of measurement: MoCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment)	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (after 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: fasting blood glucose in mg/dL	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: Body-Mass-Index determined by participants weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: blood pressure in mmHg	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: total cholesterol in mg/dl	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: LDL-cholesterol in mg/dL	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: HDL-cholesterol in mg/dL	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: C-reactive protein in mg/l	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Cardiometabolic Risk Profile at 6 Months	Does a 6-month supplementation with 4 g of taurine daily alter the cardiometabolic risk profile? Measurement: fasting insulin in pmol/l	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Handgrip Strength (kg) at 6 Months	Measurement of handgrip strength in kilograms and Newtons in the dominant hand using Jamar Hydraulic Hand Dynamometer.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Physical Working Capacity (PWC130) At 6 Months	Measurement of heart rate (bpm) on the Corvial ergometer while increasing power manually by 25 W every 2 minutes. The endpoint is the power in Watts at the stage where heart rate of 130bpm is reached.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)
Change From Baseline In Isometric Leg Extensor Strength For Each Leg At 6 Months	Measurement of leg extensor strength using a force transducer connected to the back of a chair and an ankle loop, as well as force recording software. The maximum force (N) will be multiplied with the distance from knee joint to the middle of the loop (in metres) to calculate the torque in Newton-metres (Nm) for each leg.	pre-intervention (at time point 0) and post-intervention (at 24 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Technical University of Munich
• Collaborators: Stanford University; LMU Klinikum; Rutgers University; Universitaet Innsbruck

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Oh HS, Rutledge J, Nachun D, Palovics R, Abiose O, Moran-Losada P, Channappa D, Urey DY, Kim K, Sung YJ, Wang L, Timsina J, Western D, Liu M, Kohlfeld P, Budde J, Wilson EN, Guen Y, Maurer TM, Haney M, Yang AC, He Z, Greicius MD, Andreasson KI, Sathyan S, Weiss EF, Milman S, Barzilai N, Cruchaga C, Wagner AD, Mormino E, Lehallier B, Henderson VW, Longo FM, Montgomery SB, Wyss-Coray T. Organ aging signatures in the plasma proteome track health and disease. Nature. 2023 Dec;624(7990):164-172. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06802-1. Epub 2023 Dec 6.
• Singh P, Gollapalli K, Mangiola S, Schranner D, Yusuf MA, Chamoli M, Shi SL, Lopes Bastos B, Nair T, Riermeier A, Vayndorf EM, Wu JZ, Nilakhe A, Nguyen CQ, Muir M, Kiflezghi MG, Foulger A, Junker A, Devine J, Sharan K, Chinta SJ, Rajput S, Rane A, Baumert P, Schonfelder M, Iavarone F, di Lorenzo G, Kumari S, Gupta A, Sarkar R, Khyriem C, Chawla AS, Sharma A, Sarper N, Chattopadhyay N, Biswal BK, Settembre C, Nagarajan P, Targoff KL, Picard M, Gupta S, Velagapudi V, Papenfuss AT, Kaya A, Ferreira MG, Kennedy BK, Andersen JK, Lithgow GJ, Ali AM, Mukhopadhyay A, Palotie A, Kastenmuller G, Kaeberlein M, Wackerhage H, Pal B, Yadav VK. Taurine deficiency as a driver of aging. Science. 2023 Jun 9;380(6649):eabn9257. doi: 10.1126/science.abn9257. Epub 2023 Jun 9.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): September 25, 2024
• Primary Completion (Actual): November 13, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): November 13, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 22, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): September 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 21, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 18, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: physical activity; cognition; aging; DNA methylation; Dietary Supplements; humans; drug effects; anti-aging; taurine; longevity; metabolic health; biological aging; DNA-methylation; Cellular Senescence; epigenetic clock; hallmarks of aging; Taurine Deficiency; Taurine Level; aging metabolism; longevity physiology; aging ptoeomics; taurine microbiome; taurine gut micorbiota; taurine cognition; taurine sport; taurine DNA methylation; nutritional medicine; sport biology; taurine physical fitness; taurine physical acitvity; taurine sport biology; taurine muscle strength; taurine pwc 130; Taurine HOMA IR; taurine mental health; taurine human aging; taurine cardiometabolic risk; taurine cardiometabolic health; taurine blood pressure; taurine fasting glucose; taurine inflammation; taurine biological aging
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Motor Activity
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2024-253-S-CB

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: IPD will not be shared because of data privacy and confidentiality.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No