I back off to 1 g tonight. If I didn’t need to be productive, it would be interesting to explore the dreams, which all seem consequential. But it’s not very restful.
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I’m not a vegetarian, but it makes me feel better - so I’ve been taking it for years. I think the fact that i felt better taking it is a good clue that i needed it. I used to wake up with headacjes b4.
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Arhu
#23
I’m carnivore so I really eat a lot of meat and taurine doesn’t do anything for me.
Interestingly more vivid dreams is what many people that start out on the carnivore diet describe too
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Happened to me on carnivore. I’m eating vegetables again but not as much as meat. Feel great. Probably die of CVD.
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@Qurestine Could you talk briefly about the 3 in-house production? (I loved to see your post about the DIY rapa cream)
thx and sorry for answering that late. Its nothing special, just 3 plant powders.
a green powder based on vegetables
a red berry powder (with lower sugar content as in berrys!)
and a cocoa powder with some healthy spices (50% spice content)
all science based, no added sugars, no impact at least on my insulin level.
I was just seeking for a healthy plant powder and found none or at least none with a good price/performance ratio. All companys just buy cheap and sell dear. So I made my own.
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Agetron
#27
This in on Dr. Matt Kaeberlein’s take on Taurine benefit… second after rapamycin… hmmm.
I have been taking it now for several weeks. No issues.
Matt Kaeberlein currently is not on Taurine… but interested.
Matt Kaeberlein
Link: https://youtube.com/watch?v=EEP8y5k0VxM&feature=share
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I like taurine. Studies, and my own personal anecdotal, evidence show that it lengthens uninterrupted sleep time when taken near bedtime. It is also synergistic with coffee and improves endurance and cognitive function. Currently, I am taking 3 grams before bedtime and 2 grams in the morning with my coffee.
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Thank you, @desertshores , as I know you try to keep your “stack” lean: I am trying to follow in your footsteps and not to add much, although it keeps creeping upward.
From this thread, taurine competes with glycine and beta-alanine (carnosine) — so are you not taking either at the same times as your 2x per day taurine?
I’ve personally been drinking two cups of coffee every morning (strong Colombian) with 7g collagen and 3g glycine mixed in (pretty tasty). I recently added dark cocoa powder in my attempt to lower LDL without statins (I take citrus bergamot so that might be cheating anyway). I’m not sure that the cocoa is doing any good given the compounds are in low concentrations.
I don’t want to drink another two cups of coffee at night with taurine (I’ll be up for a week). And I wanted the “ reduced advanced glycolization end products from having carnosine. So am I to take glycine in the morning (with NAC), taurine at night, and beta-alanine in the middle of the day? — I’m starting to sound like a wacko with that schedule.
Oh: I’m also ready to start creatine before workouts as well. (I need a cystatin eGFR test first as a baseline).
So my stack would be:
Citrus bergamot
1mg finasteride
Glycine / NAC
Astraxanthin
Vitamin D
(Does cocoa count?)
Creatine (haven’t started)
Beta-alanine (haven’t started)
Rapamycin twice a month (haven’t bought)
And now taurine? (Haven’t bought)
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If you are not taking creatine before workouts you are missing out. It is one of the premier established supplements for muscle growth and possibly longevity. I put 5 grams in my first cup of coffee in the morning. It is virtually tasteless in coffee so I don’t think it will disturb your morning brew. Creatine also has a relatively short half-life ~3 hrs. So you don’t want to take too long before your works outs.
Taurine has some synergistic effects with coffee/caffeine, but you certainly don’t have to take it coffee with it in the evening I don’t. I can’t seem to find that glycine is an antagonist for taurine. If it is it’s pretty weak. Glycine has a short half-life, so you could just avoid glycine for a couple of hours before taking taurine.
Don’t take taurine with strychnine! 
“Taurine and β-alanine responses were partially inhibited by the GABA antagonist, bicuculline, and also by the glycine antagonist, strychnine” Doesn’t say anything about glycine inhibiting taurine.
I generally take taurine twice a day, once in the morning and before I go to bed.
Probably better to take the glycine an hour or so before taking taurine since it has a shorter half-life.
I generally adjust my stack from time to time based on my blood work results.
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Here is one of the reasons I started adding cocoa to my coffee in the morning. Tastes good plus there’s a ton of purported health benefits which I thought might be a stretch given the low concentrations of each compound. However in this study (trial) there seems to be a benefit, albeit at around 4x what I am adding to my two cups of coffee daily.
Methods and results: Forty-two high-risk volunteers (19 men and 23 women, mean age 69.7 ± 11.5 years) were included in a randomized, crossover feeding trial. All received 40g of cocoa powder with 500 mL of skimmed milk/day(C + M) or only 500 mL/day of skimmed milk (M) for 4 weeks in a random order. Before and after each intervention period, plasma lipids, oxLDL and antioxidant vitamin concentrations were measured, as well as urinary cocoa polyphenols metabolites derived from phase II and microbial metabolisms. Compared to M, C + M intervention increases HDLc [2.67 mg/dL (95% confidence intervals, CI, 0.58-4.73; P = 0.008)] and decreases oxLDL levels [-12.3 U/L (CI,-19.3 to -5.2;P = 0.001)]. No changes between intervention groups were observed in vitamins B1, B6, B12, C and E, or folic acid concentrations. In addition, subjects who showed higher increments in urinary cocoa polyphenol metabolites exhibited significant increases in HDLc and significant decreases in oxLDL levels (P < 0.05; all).
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KarlT
#32
Is there any evidence that raising your HDL is beneficial?
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KarlT
#33
Do you have any literature on this? I don’t think it matters when you take creatine.
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Legitimate question.
I am just citing the generally accepted practice of athletes and bodybuilders who use it.
At least one study indicates that it may be better to take it immediately after exercise.
“Most athletes use creatine either less than one hour before or immediately after working out. Using it after exercise can be beneficial because exercising stimulates blood circulation and cells can then be supplied with creatine more quickly. Nevertheless, creatine can be taken at any time.”
“The optimum time to take creatine can vary on workout days and rest days. Taking it close to the time you exercise, whether before or after, may be more beneficial.”
When should you take creatine? | Creapure.
When Is the Best Time to Take Creatine?.
Timing of Creatine Supplementation and Resistance Training: A Brief Review | Journal of Exercise and Nutrition
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No. Only in older literature do I find that high HDL is said to be beneficial. It is used as a marker in the Aging.ai test, but not in the Levine spreadsheet calculations.
More recent literature that I have read is that it is not as significant as once thought.
It can be too high. Once again suggesting a U-shaped curve.
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If you were responding to the trial research I just posted, I noticed in the paper that LDL (19 points?) was reduced by a lot more than the HDL was raised (2.67 points?) so I just ignored the HDL part. Plus, it is really just cocoa (no sugar or other stuff) so how bad could it really be, especially if it tastes pretty good (with glycine and collagen), lowers LDL a bit, and possibly the other magic effects it is purported to have such as reduce arterial plaque, reduce blood pressure (with 0.05-3.7oz per day reduced 2mm Hg, by raising nitric oxide), raise NO, improve blood flow, improve mood, protect against cancer, make me better looking and a better conversationalist, etc. it’s only been a week but I’m curious if it is all BS….(no obvious changes thus far)
(I feel like every other day I see a new study with a litany of positive impacts on health/longevity from basic household products or random fruits/vegetables which don’t appear to be reproducible)
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LaraPo
#37
If HDL is low it makes sense to raise it. Mine is pretty high already. Would be nice to find out what high level is optimal and where is the upper limit.
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Agreed, @desertshores : 40 years of self-trial and error on willing human subjects and a large community willing to share experiences is likely to have value.
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KarlT
#39
It makes sense but there is no evidence that raising an individual’s HDL has any long term benefit.
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KarlT
#40
I put it in my coffee solely for the taste.
