In hot conditions, taurine supplementation appears to cause earlier sweat onset and higher sweat production.
The reviewers found that, ‘taurine effectively “jump-started” the sweating response—acting like a fast-forwarded acclimation in the first minutes of heat exposure—but it did not continually elevate sweat output under the most severe conditions the way a fully acclimated system might.’ They surmised that ‘an acclimated person and a taurine-supplemented but unacclimated person might both start sweating quickly when exercising in the heat, but the acclimated individual may achieve a greater absolute sweat output under prolonged heat stress and maintain thermal stability longer once fully taxed.’
Taurine does not increase blood plasma volume (a key component of heat adaptation that supports increased sweat production).
Taurine does not reduce sodium concentrations in sweat (in contrast, heat adapted athletes experience up to a 45% reduction in sweat-sodium loss)
Taurine does not appear to increase skin vasodilation (an important part of heat adaptation which allows more blood to reach the skin for cooling).
In a study giving an acute one-time dose, taurine lowered core temperature and increased time to exhaustion by 10% for non-heat-adapted cyclists in hot conditions (35°C, 40% relative humidity).
In another study, participants took a daily dose of taurine for 8 days and then walked in an hot environment with continually increasing humidity. Those taking taurine could walk longer than the placebo group before their heat balance could no longer be sustained.
There are suggestions that taurine may offer some tissue protection from heat-induced oxidative stress.
No studies have evaluated taurine usage by heat adapted athletes.
It is not well understood how taurine affects physiological mechanisms.
Methodologies
Only two studies have used oral taurine supplementation under environmental heat stress. One gave an acute dosage just before exercise; the other studied an 8-day dosage protocol.
Other human and animal studies have investigated how taurine affects physiological mechanisms.
CORE’s Hot Take
There is a strong desire in the supplement industry to find a ‘heat adaptation in a pill’ solution. Taurine does not appear to be that solution.
In short, taurine increases the sweat rate of non-heat adapted athletes – at least in the early stages of exercise. It doesn’t increase blood plasma, it doesn’t increase skin vasodilation, and it doesn’t reduce sweat-sodium loss.
The increased sweat rate (without an increase in blood plasma) means athletes will become dehydrated sooner and lose far more electrolytes than normal (and more than a heat-adapted athlete would). Drinking enough water to replenish those fluids increases the risk of hypernatremia if electrolytes are not also replaced.
Because taurine does not increase blood flow in the skin, there is no cooling benefit from the excessive sweating when evaporation is limited. In other words, the extra sweat is only effective in moderate-to-low humidity conditions. In high humidity, vasodilation is far more important than sweat volume.
We asked our Sweatlabs team for situations where they would recommend taurine supplements for thermal management. Their responses:
‘There have been no studies on how it affects heat adapted athletes. Effects could be positive, negative, or neutral. So until we learn more, we would not recommend it in any situation for an athlete who has some heat adaptation.’
‘The only significant thing taurine appears to do is make you sweat more for a short duration. Which may be beneficial in, say, a hot, low-humidity running race shorter than an hour. But you’d probably be better off simply soaking yourself with a water bottle. You won’t get as dehydrated, and you won’t lose as many electrolytes. But if there’s no water on the course and you’re not at all heat adapted…a taurine supplement may keep you a little cooler.’
‘We understand that the weather sometimes is unexpectedly warm for a race, or that athletes want to jump last-minute into a hot race. But even 4 days of proper heat adaptation will give you more race-day benefits than taurine will. And if you have 8 days (like in the 8-day taurine study), you can become almost fully heat adapted’
Moving forward
We don’t see much promising in a supplement that appears to have ‘creating more sweat’ as its only major effect. This pales in comparison to the multitude of positive effects that even limited heat training creates.
That said, we are curious about the effects of taurine on athletes who are already heat adapted. This has not yet been investigated. Studies we would like to see:
For athletes already heat adapted, does taurine cause them to sweat even more in hot conditions? Or is there an upper limit to the amount of sweat an athlete can produce? And if it does create even more sweat, in which (if any) conditions does it provide a performance benefit?
For athletes already heat adapted, what is the effect of taurine on sweat-sodium concentrations?
Conduct your own thermal research with CORE Calera®
