Summary
Animal foods contain some special nutrients that you simply can’t get from plants, and these nutrients play a surprisingly big role in how well we age and how strong our bodies stay over time. This article focuses on five of them—taurine, creatine, carnosine, anserine, and 4-hydroxyproline—all originally discovered in cattle and naturally abundant in beef.
These compounds help the body in many different ways. They support our muscles, brain, eyes, immune system, and heart, and they also help control inflammation and oxidative stress, two major drivers of aging. What’s striking is that plant foods don’t provide taurine, creatine, carnosine, or anserine at all, and they offer very little hydroxyproline. That means these nutrients are something only animal foods can reliably supply. In fact, even a small amount of beef—around 30 grams of dried beef—can meet an adult’s daily needs for taurine and carnosine while also giving meaningful amounts of the others.
Because these nutrients work across so many systems in the body, they can help reduce the risk of obesity, heart problems, metabolic issues, immune weaknesses, and age-related declines in muscle, bone, skin, and brain function. There’s even evidence they may help the body defend itself better against infections, including viruses like coronavirus, by strengthening the activity of immune cells.
Taken together, this research argues that red meat isn’t just a source of protein—it’s a nutrient-dense, functional food that supports health, growth, and resilience throughout life.
PMID: 32072297
PMCID: PMC7088015
DOI: 10.1007/s00726-020-02823-6
Abstract
Taurine (a sulfur-containing β-amino acid), creatine (a metabolite of arginine, glycine and methionine), carnosine (a dipeptide; β-alanyl-l-histidine), and 4-hydroxyproline (an imino acid; also often referred to as an amino acid) were discovered in cattle, and the discovery of anserine (a methylated product of carnosine; β-alanyl-1-methyl-l-histidine) also originated with cattle. These five nutrients are highly abundant in beef, and have important physiological roles in anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory reactions, as well as neurological, muscular, retinal, immunological and cardiovascular function. Of particular note, taurine, carnosine, anserine, and creatine are absent from plants, and hydroxyproline is negligible in many plant-source foods. Consumption of 30 g dry beef can fully meet daily physiological needs of the healthy 70-kg adult human for taurine and carnosine, and can also provide large amounts of creatine, anserine and 4-hydroxyproline to improve human nutrition and health, including metabolic, retinal, immunological, muscular, cartilage, neurological, and cardiovascular health. The present review provides the public with the much-needed knowledge of nutritionally and physiologically significant amino acids, dipeptides and creatine in animal-source foods (including beef). Dietary taurine, creatine, carnosine, anserine and 4-hydroxyproline are beneficial for preventing and treating obesity, cardiovascular dysfunction, and ageing-related disorders, as well as inhibiting tumorigenesis, improving skin and bone health, ameliorating neurological abnormalities, and promoting well being in infants, children and adults. Furthermore, these nutrients may promote the immunological defense of humans against infections by bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses (including coronavirus) through enhancing the metabolism and functions of monocytes, macrophages, and other cells of the immune system. Red meat (including beef) is a functional food for optimizing human growth, development and health.
Wu G. Important roles of dietary taurine, creatine, carnosine, anserine and 4-hydroxyproline in human nutrition and health. Amino Acids. 2020 Mar;52(3):329-360. doi: 10.1007/s00726-020-02823-6. Epub 2020 Feb 18. PMID: 32072297; PMCID: PMC7088015.