Zhang et al. 2025 — taurine and dementia risk in Malmö
TL;DR
Across 27,786 middle-aged adults followed for a median 24.9 years, neither estimated dietary taurine nor plasma taurine predicted all-cause dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or vascular dementia after adjustment. This large prospective null weakens the earlier suggestive Framingham metabolomic signal, but does not test high-dose supplementation.
Design
- Malmö Diet and Cancer prospective cohort, baseline 1991–1996.
- Dietary analysis n=27,786; plasma taurine subset n=3,693.
- 3,224 incident dementia cases over median 24.9 years.
- Registry diagnoses validated through memory-clinic review; Cox models adjusted for APOE ε4, lifestyle factors, and comorbidities.
Key results
No significant association was found between dietary taurine or plasma taurine and all-cause dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or vascular dementia. Plasma taurine correlated only weakly with estimated dietary intake, consistent with substantial endogenous and homeostatic control.
Limitations
- Observational baseline exposure; residual confounding and exposure change over 25 years remain possible.
- Food-level intake does not test pharmacological-dose supplementation.
- The plasma subset was much smaller than the dietary cohort.