Dietary and Supplemental Taurine for Health and Exercise Performance Outcomes in Plant-Based and Omnivorous Diets: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Taurine is a conditionally essential amino acid synthesized endogenously from cysteine that participates in bile acid conjugation, calcium homeostasis, and immune function. Plant-based diets provide negligible dietary taurine and are associated with lower plasma taurine concentrations in vegans compared with omnivores, raising questions about whether this difference compromises health or exercise performance. This narrative review synthesized evidence from systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, observational studies, and mechanistic research across five domains: aging, cognitive function, cardiometabolic health, colorectal cancer risk, and exercise performance. Despite lower circulating taurine in plant-based populations, clinical taurine deficiency has never been documented in this group. The supplemental doses shown to produce beneficial effects in intervention trials far exceed what any diet, omnivorous or plant-based, can provide, rendering dietary taurine differences between the two patterns clinically inconsequential for achieving pharmacological effects. Emerging evidence also links high-dose taurine supplementation to increased colorectal cancer risk via taurine-conjugated bile acid pathways. Individuals following plant-based diets consistently show outcomes comparable to or superior to omnivores across all examined endpoints. Current evidence does not support the suggestion that individuals following plant-based diets require routine taurine supplementation.