TY - JOUR
T1 - Flattening the biological age curve by improving metabolic health
T2 - to taurine or not to taurine, that’s the question
AU - Ho, Kwok M.
AU - Lee, Anna
AU - Wu, William
AU - Chan, Matthew T.V.
AU - Ling, Lowell
AU - Lipman, Jeffrey
AU - Roberts, Jason
AU - Litton, Edward
AU - Joynt, Gavin M.
AU - Wong, Martin
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ms Beatrix Yu at the Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care of the Chinese University of Hong Kong for her assistance in constructing Figure 1 of this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 JGC All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/11/30
Y1 - 2023/11/30
N2 - The aging population is an important issue around the world especially in developed countries. Although medical advances have substantially extended life span, the same cannot be said for the duration of health span. We are seeing increasing numbers of elderly people who are frail and/or have multiple chronic conditions; all of these can affect the quality of life of the elderly population as well as increase the burden on the healthcare system. Aging is mechanistically related to common medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, cognitive decline, and frailty. A recently accepted concept termed ‘Accelerated Biological Aging’ can be diagnosed when a person’s biological age —as measured by biomarkers of DNA methylation —is older than their corresponding chronological age. Taurine, a conditionally essential amino acid, has received much attention in the past few years. A substantial number of animal studies have provided a strong scientific foundation suggesting that this amino acid can improve cellular and metabolic health, including blood glucose control, so much that it has been labelled one of the ‘longevity amino acids’. In this review article, we propose the rationale that an adequately powered randomized-controlled-trial (RCT) is needed to confirm whether taurine can meaningfully improve metabolic and microbiome health, and biological age. This trial should incorporate certain elements in order to provide the much-needed evidence to guide doctors, and also the community at large, to determine whether this promising and inexpensive amino acid is useful in improving human metabolic health.
AB - The aging population is an important issue around the world especially in developed countries. Although medical advances have substantially extended life span, the same cannot be said for the duration of health span. We are seeing increasing numbers of elderly people who are frail and/or have multiple chronic conditions; all of these can affect the quality of life of the elderly population as well as increase the burden on the healthcare system. Aging is mechanistically related to common medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, cognitive decline, and frailty. A recently accepted concept termed ‘Accelerated Biological Aging’ can be diagnosed when a person’s biological age —as measured by biomarkers of DNA methylation —is older than their corresponding chronological age. Taurine, a conditionally essential amino acid, has received much attention in the past few years. A substantial number of animal studies have provided a strong scientific foundation suggesting that this amino acid can improve cellular and metabolic health, including blood glucose control, so much that it has been labelled one of the ‘longevity amino acids’. In this review article, we propose the rationale that an adequately powered randomized-controlled-trial (RCT) is needed to confirm whether taurine can meaningfully improve metabolic and microbiome health, and biological age. This trial should incorporate certain elements in order to provide the much-needed evidence to guide doctors, and also the community at large, to determine whether this promising and inexpensive amino acid is useful in improving human metabolic health.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181163286&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.26599/1671-5411.2023.11.004
DO - 10.26599/1671-5411.2023.11.004
M3 - Review article
C2 - 38098466
AN - SCOPUS:85181163286
SN - 1671-5411
VL - 20
SP - 813
EP - 823
JO - Journal of Geriatric Cardiology
JF - Journal of Geriatric Cardiology
IS - 11
ER -