Acute effects of taurine ingestion on maximal middle-distance running performance

Although repeated taurine administration has been shown to benefit endurance performance in trained athletes (Lee et al., 2003: Korean Journal of Nutrition, 36, 711–719), little research exists on its acute effects. The present study aimed to investigate the acute effect of taurine on maximal 3 km performance in well-trained, middle-distance runners. Eight male competitive middle-distance runners (age: mean 19.9, s¼1.2 years; 800 m personal best times: mean 121.74, s¼5.01 s) participated in a randomised, double blind, crossover study approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. Taurine (1000 mg) or placebo was ingested 2 h prior to testing. Following a standardized warm-up, a self-paced maximal 3 kmtime trial on a treadmill was completed. Three kilometre time and 500 m split times were recorded. Capillary blood lactate was measured pre- and post-3 km. EMG activity of the right rectus femoris, biceps femoris and gastrocnemius was recorded at 500 m intervals. Pairwise comparisons were conducted for overall 3 km time. Repeated measures ANOVA examined for differences in 500 m split times, blood lactate and EMG activity, followed by pairwise comparisons where necessary.