Does Taurine Supplementation Improve Vascular Function and Orthostatic Responses in Long COVID?

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Taurine supplementation: Participants will self-administer 12-wks taurine supplementation

Study summary

Millions have developed Long COVID (LC), and recent findings show an association between taurine deficiency (an amino acid) and symptoms in LC. Cost-effective and accessible interventions are needed to improve welfare and reduce healthcare costs. We will investigate the efficacy of 12-weeks of taurine supplementation (self-administered), on vascular function and the cardio/cerebrovascular responses to upright posture. We will measure resting vascular function with an EndoPAT device, resting heart rate variability, and the blood pressure, heart rate, and brain blood flow responses to 5 minutes of head-up tilt before and after weeks of taurine supplementation in LC. We hypothesize that the 12 weeks of supplementation will improve both resting vascular function and the responses to upright tilt. In turn, we hypothesize that symptoms will also improve (as measured by questionnaires).

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Orthostatic responses — Baseline and 12-weeks
  Measure cardiovascular and cerebrovascular responses to upright tilt using beat to beat blood pressure, ECG, and transcranial Doppler.
• Vascular function — Baseline and 12-weeks
  Flow-mediated dilation and EndoPAT response. These techniques concurrently measure endothelial function using the same protocol.

Trial sites (1)

More York University trials in Canada

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