The present study investigated the effect of taurine on muscle damage markers and inflammatory markers in running. It enrolled ten healthy volunteers (mean ± SEM; age 24 ± 1 year, body mass 72.2 ± 4.89 kg, height 174.03 ± 2.85 cm, and BMI 23.83 ± 1.27), who performed running exercise for 5 km. 

The selected participants either consumed 250 ml of a commercially available energy drink that contained Taurine 125 mg OR 250 ml of water as a placebo.

They provided blood samples pre-exercise and pre-exercise + tau and post-exercise and post-exercise + tau for biochemical assessment. The study assessed serum creatine kinase (CK), CK isoenzyme, Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate transaminase (AST), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). 

It observed-

• No significant difference in CK level in the control and taurine (tau) administrated groups.
• However, a decrease in creatine kinase isoenzyme in the pre-exercise + tau group compared to the post-exercise + tau group.
• A significant increase in AST level in the post-exercise group compared to the post-exercise + tau group.
• No significant difference in the LDH level in both post-exercise and post-exercise + tau.
• No significant difference in TNF-alpha level in both post-exercise and post-exercise + tau.
• However, a decrease in IL-6 in the post-exercise + tau compared to the post-exercise group. 

This study shows that taurine decreases the inflammatory response by reducing IL-6 and AST, suggesting its role in regulating inflammatory response, which could help to increase running performance.

Wang Y, Xu T, Zhao H, Gu C, Li Z. Effect of taurine in muscle damage markers and inflammatory cytokines in running exercise. Frontiers in Physiology. 2022    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2022.1008060