On May 20, the Natural Products Association (NPA) responded to a study published in Nature on taurine that has been widely “misrepresented in media coverage and scientific commentary.” Contrary to the headlines and speculation, the study does not demonstrate that dietary taurine intake causes leukemia or poses safety risks to consumers, the association said.

Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid that has been extensively studied for decades, the NPA stated. Numerous government health authorities around the world have well-established safety profiles for taurine. These agencies have consistently found no adverse effects at daily intake levels ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 mg. Higher amounts have been deemed safe in some cases.

“This latest study does absolutely nothing to change the well-documented safety record of taurine. Taurine plays a critical role in bone health and the function of bone marrow stem cells,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD, president and CEO of NPA. “While the media and the authors are unabashedly and irresponsibly positioning the study that dietary intake of taurine leads to leukemia, nothing could be further from the truth. That would be the equivalent of saying that the cure to all degenerative diseases is never to drink water, or breathe oxygen again, because water and oxygen are a co-factor in all degenerative diseases.”

Researchers and some media outlets have also made “alarming” conclusions suggesting that taurine intake from supplements or energy drinks is “dangerous.”

“The research is looking at isolated cell signaling, applying that broadly to all supplemental or energy drink intake is plain irresponsible and appears to be a scare tactic to generate funding and media attention,” Fabricant added. “If the study didn’t mention supplements, it’s unlikely anyone outside of a research lab would have even noticed it. This is not a human safety study. It is a laboratory study and should be treated as such.”