TABLE 3.

Effects of taurine on diabetes and its complications

Taurine	Target	Effects	Reference
1.5 g/day for 8 weeks	Overweight men	No significant difference in insulin secretion	Brons et al (79)
2% in diet for 6–12 weeks	Sensory neuron cells from STZ-diabetic rats	Improved Ca2+ homeostasis	Li et al (81)
5% w/w in diet	STZ-induced diabetic rats	Decreased mortality rate, decreased glycemia	Di Leo et al (82)
2.5% in water	Non-obese diabetic mice	Increased pancreatic islet mass and islet cell proliferation, reduced incidences of apoptosis and reduced insulitis	Arany et al (83)
3% in water for 9 weeks	Type 2 diabetic OLETF rats	Decreased part of postprandial glucose oxidation, improved hyperglycemia and insulin resistance, increased muscle glycogen content and increased blood concentration of taurine, electrolytes and fluid volume	Harada et al (84)
5% w/w in diet for 9 weeks	Type 2 diabetic OLETF rats	Decreased serum cholesterol and triacylglycerol, improved insulin sensitivity	Nakaya et al (85)
2% in water for 30 days	High fructose-fed rats	Decreased glucose, glycated protein, glycosylated hemoglobin and fructosamine	Nandhini et al (86)
3% for 14 or 21 days	Type 2 diabetic rats	Increased plasma HDL cholesterol concentration in diabetic rats, decreased cholesterol concentration in both normal and diabetic rats	Nishimura et al (87)
2% w/w or 5% w/w for 16 weeks	STZ-induced diabetes	Decreased retinal conjugated dienes and lipid hyperoxides	Di Leo et al (88)
3% in water for 8 weeks	STZ-treated rats	Prevented the loss of both insulin and adrenergic agonist stimulation	Colivicchi et al (90)
2% in water for 30 days	Fructose-fed rats	Increased urinary kallikrein activity and activity of membrane-bound ATPases, decreased hyperglycemia and insulin resistance	Nandhini and Anuradha (91)

HDL High-density lipoprotein; OLETF Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty; STZ Streptozotocin; w/w Weight/weight