A recent preclinical study designed to find new ways to target the aggressive blood cancer leukemia conducted by researchers at the Wilmot Cancer Institute at the University of Rochester found that preventing taurine from entering cancer cells helped stop the growth of these cells.

The research team discovered that taurine is produced by a subset of normal cells in bone marrow, where myeloid cancers begin and expand. Leukemia cells cannot produce taurine and rely on a taurine transporter to grab taurine from the bone marrow environment, per the study. The researchers also discovered that as leukemia cells accumulate taurine, it promotes a breakdown of glucose to produce energy to feed cancer growth.

“Dr. [Jeevisha Bajaj, PhD, lead author of the study]’s work shows that local levels of taurine in bone marrow may enhance leukemia growth, suggesting caution in use of high-dose taurine supplementation,” said Jane Leisveld, MD, a Wilmot oncologist and co-author of the study, to Leslie Orr, author at University of Rochester Medical Center’s newsroom. “Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer, and we are at the very beginning of understanding metabolic effects on leukemia cells. The prior focus has been on genetic changes, but the focus is expanding to understanding how leukemia cells are able to hijack various metabolic pathways for their own survival.”

The authors concluded that, due to the nature of leukemia cells’ apparent dependence on taurine to grow, healthcare practitioners and leukemia patients should carefully consider the benefits of the amino acid, as it is often provided as a supplement to mitigate the effects of chemotherapy.

Alarmist Headlines Abound

While the authors’ conclusions were limited in application to leukemia patients, and the study was preclinical in nature, relying on in vitro samples of leukemia cells and animal models, several mainstream media publications covered the study with headlines suggesting a link between consumption of energy drinks and the risk of leukemia.

Some top-ranking headlines on Google search results revealed headlines such as “Can a Common Energy Drink Ingredient Really Raise Your Risk of Blood Cancer?” “Common Energy Drink Ingredient Linked to Blood Cancer,” and “This Common Energy Drink Ingredient Could Increase Your Risk for Blood Cancer, New Study Suggests.”  

NPA: This is Not a Human Safety Study

The Natural Products Association (NPA) responded to the study, noting that media coverage and scientific commentary have misrepresented the results.

Taurine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, and other sources, and NPA notes that it has been studied for decades. Several government health authorities have established safety profiles for the amino acid, with no adverse effects observed at daily intake levels ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 mg, and in some cases, even higher amounts.

“This latest study does absolutely nothing to change the well-documented safety record of taurine,” said Daniel Fabricant, PhD, president and CEO of NPA. “Taurine plays a critical role in bone health and the function of bone marrow stem cells. 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.”

Further, this research is on cancer cell signaling in isolation, which, when applied 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 said. “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.”