So here’s the weird thing: our bodies actually make enough taurine on their own for most people, especially if you’re eating meat or fish. The reason energy drinks shove extra taurine in there is mostly for marketing and maybe because it’s supposed to help with things like alertness, heart function, or muscle cramps. People always think more is better, right?

From what I’ve read, there isn’t even a ton of research showing real benefits if you’re already healthy. I’ve had friends who swear that taurine energy drinks make them feel more focused, but honestly, I think it’s probably the caffeine doing most of the work.

And now, after that new study linking taurine to helping leukemia cells grow, it sort of makes me wonder if supplementing with it could have downsides we didn’t even know about. I’m not going to freak out and say “never drink energy drinks” but it seems like something to pay attention to, especially if you’re dealing with health problems or have cancer risk in your family. So yeah, we probably don’t need all that extra taurine – our bodies got us covered most of the time!