Hacker News Reader

Comment by giardini | Hacker News Reader

In the study mice were given 1000 mg taurine per kg body weight per day. In comparison a typical taurine supplement for humans is 1000 mg total.

IOW they gave the mice a dose of taurine that, proportionally, i'd be unwilling to take.

View on HN

You don't directly convert dosage across species like that. The dosage they tested on monkeys was 250mg/kg, and the human equivalent would be less than that.

The basic formula from mouse to human is (X mg * (3/37)) = human equivalent dose in mg/kg.

In this case (1000mg * 3/37)) comes out to 81mg/kg. So, if you weigh 80kg, it comes out to 6.48 grams per day.

That's a lot of taurine, but not really a crazy amount. Easy enough to consume.

Is there a precise biological explanation for that factor, e.g. metabolism rate or something?

> oxygen utilization, caloric expenditure, basal metabolism, blood volume, circulating plasma proteins, and renal function

The equation is from here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17942826/

For what it's worth, the rat equation is (X mg * (6/37))

Keep in mind that it's a loose/general guideline. Basically a starting point. But usually a quite accurate one.

When my son had cancer, many of the medication dosages were based on body surface area. Maybe it is similar to that.

https://reference.medscape.com/calculator/692/body-surface-a...

I see that Amazon sells 1 gram capsules of taurine (several vendors). So, yeah, not too difficult to consume. One brand I saw is about $0.08/gram, so it wouldn't be overly financially burdensome, either.

IMO anything you buy from Amazon that goes into your body should be considered at best fraudulent and at worst toxic until proven otherwise.

> Serious adverse effects have not been reported with taurine supplementation.[24] The highest dose used in a human trial was 10 grams per day for 6 months, and the longest human trial was 12 months and used a dose of 0.5–1.5 grams per day. Based on the available evidence, it’s suggested that 3 grams per day can be consumed indefinitely without risk of side effects.[24]

https://examine.com/supplements/taurine/

For what it’s worth, Wikipedia is currently referencing a 2009 study which had previously tested 1000mg/kg in humans.

Really? For a 100kg human (me) that is 100g a day of taurine which is more than 3 ounces or this whole bottle

https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Supplements-Taurine-Strength-Caps...

and costs about $9. Seems like a lot. Contrast that to the claim that people should eat about 800mg/kg a day of protein overall

https://www.sclhealth.org/blog/2019/07/how-much-protein-is-s...

Not saying it is a good idea, but based on that one study I did not read, the amount is tolerable without acute symptoms.

1000 mg ... you mean a gram :-) ?

he meant 0.001 kg

Or about 5e-34 solar mass, which is the only natural way to measure your intakes :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com