Taurine Found In Red Bull Can Improve Symptoms Of Psychosis; Is This Recommended?

Reports of mental disorder hitting the young people are increasing. Researchers are trying to study the fastest way to cure the disorder. Currently, they come across to taurine an additive that can be found in Red Bull energy drink. They conducted a study and found that the taurine can improve the symptoms of young people that suffer the first episode of psychosis.

Taurine is known as an amino acid that naturally develops inside the body that has different functions. One, it aids the cardiovascular system, it also functions as a neuroprotective agent and it can also perform an inhibitory neuromodulatory effect on the nervous system. Not only that, it also helps in the development of nervous system. Among the reasons, the experts chose taurine to study and be a potential treatment for psychosis.

The new study in which the researchers presented at this year's International Early Psychosis Association (IEPA) meeting in Milan, Italy (20-22 October) concluded that the taking taurine improves the symptoms in the young people who is suffering from the first episode of psychosis (FEP).  The study authors are Professor Patrick McGorry and Dr. Kelly Allott, The National Centre of Excellence for Youth Mental Health, Parkville, Australia, Dr. Colin O'Donnell, Donegal Mental Health Service, Letterkenny, County Donegal, Ireland, and colleagues, according to Medical Xpress.

In the study, a total of 121 volunteers ages 18 to 15 who suffers FEP that takes a low dose of antipsychotic medication were tested. The participants were given 4 grams of taurine or placebo once a day. To analyze the symptoms, the researchers use a scoring system called BPRS (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale) and MCCB (MATRICS consensus cognitive battery) for the cognition assessment.

As a result 86 patients were included for final analysis, 47 of them received taurine and the 39 took a placebo. The researchers found that patients who took taurine have an improvement on the symptoms in the BPRS scale both in overall score and the part specifically analyzing psychosis. They also found that there is an improvement in the symptoms. Yet,  in the cognition result, there was no difference in both groups, in a report by Medical Daily.

The authors shared that, "Although taurine supplementation did not improve cognition, it appears to improve core symptoms and depression in patients with FEP. The use of taurine warrants further investigation in larger randomized studies, particularly early in the course of psychosis."