For example, in adult diabetics, supplementation with 1.5 grams of taurine daily for just 14 days can reverse diabetes-induced abnormalities in arterial stiffness and in the ability of the vasculature to respond to changes in blood flow or pressure.23 This can be critical to the longevity of diabetics, since these types of abnormalities are to blame for diabetics’ increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. In addition, studies in diabetic rats show that taurine helps protect heart function and helps prevent heart muscle damage, due in part to the ability of taurine to increase glucose transport from blood into energy-hungry heart muscle cells.
Oral taurine supplementation has been found to reduce the arterial thickening and stiffness characteristic of atherosclerosis, to restore arteries’ responses to beneficial endothelial nitric oxide, and to reduce inflammation (a direct contributor to cardiovascular disease.