About This Special Issue
Taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) is an organic acid - derivative of cysteine which has a regular usage in energy food drinks. There are written many physiology effects of taurine which are explained with amino terminal group in the structure and sulfonic acid group moiety.
It takes active roles in conjugation of bile acids, antioxidation, osmoregulation, membrane stabilization and modulation of calcium signaling. Taurine is essential for cardiovascular function, function of skeletal muscle, the retina and the central nervous system.
At the last few years on the pharmaceutical market there are huge number of energy drinks, food supplements and drug formulations containing taurine in different combinations. It’s lead to many questions about their preferences and warnings, protection of human health and regulations.
The wide-spread usage of energy drinks with taurine and combination with other biologically active compounds as caffeine increases the cases with unwanted side effects and requires the development of quality control procedures including analytical tests for identification and assays with accuracy, precision and selectivity especially for supplements which has free distribution on the market.
Aims and scope:Taurine and caffeine as supplements in energy drink mixtures;
Uses and side effects of taurine;
Combination with caffeine – preferences and warnings;
Quality control of taurine and caffeine in food supplements – regulations and analytical methods;
Questions about energy drinks and human health protection.
