Oyster consumption promotes taurine accumulation in skeletal muscle and improves mitochondrial function. This conclusion was reached by Japanese scientists after studying laboratory rats that orally consumed oyster homogenate.
Oyster supplementation increased taurine levels in plasma and skeletal muscle and enhanced AMPK phosphorylation. Oyster consumption also promoted mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle, upregulating MEF2A, SDH, and GLUT4.
The experiment used Crassostrea gigas (giant oysters) grown in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. This oyster species also grows in waters off Europe and Australia.
The study showed that taurine content in oysters can vary depending on the season: it gradually increased from November to May, then declined sharply from August to September.
Source: JFF