[fabian2k]

I wouldn't draw any medical conclusions from that paper, it's really not looking at anything like that. And the title of this article does not represent the paper at all.

They did some experiments to find pathways in the cells that play a role in leukemia. And they found that taurine receptors appear to be important in some way. So this is an interesting starting point, but not anything like what is suggested in the title.

If I understand the paper right, "the cells feed on taurine" is also just wrong. What they see is that taurine plays a role in regulating glycolysis in those leukemia cells. And of course glycolysis uses glucose as indicated by its name, and taurine looks nothing like glucose.

[mmooss]

The researchers themselves seem to disagree with your comment:

Researchers from the University of Rochester warned consumers to be cautious, especially as taurine is commonly used in energy drinks and dietary supplements.

... "The study states, “Since taurine is a common ingredient in energy drinks... our work suggests that it may be of interest to carefully consider the risks and benefits of supplemental taurine in leukaemia patients,”.

[nativeit]

Your quote suggests that ingesting supplemental taurine may/may not increase risks specifically for leukemia patients. The headline asserts outright that the taurine content of energy drinks is a causal factor in colorectal cancers.

I fail to see how that contradicts the comment to which you were replying, and I agree that the headline doesn’t seem to follow from the text.

[mmooss]

> The headline asserts outright that the taurine content of energy drinks is a causal factor in colorectal cancers.

? The headline says, "Energy drinks linked to rise in colorectal and blood cancer". 'Linked' doesn't mean 'causes', and that's especially true in any science news or any other journalism. 'Jones linked to Chase robbery' doesn't mean they robbed the bank, but that they somehow had a connection to someone.