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More information coming soon. TUDCA is a derivative of bile salts which has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as by indigenous peoples for centuries primarily for liver support and to ward off gallstones, and there's also a flurry of recent studies indicating it may have promise for helping with certain neurodegenerative and neurological disorders, including ones affecting the eyes.
Product Notes:
Bile is a sticky fluid produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder in vertebrates (animals with backbones) like us, whose main functions are to assist with the next steps of digestion after the food leaves the stomach by lowering the pH added by the stomach acid and by emulsifying or separating larger dietary fat globules into much smaller ones, to give the digestive enzymes a chance to break them down into their constituents that the intestines can absorb. Although it's principally composed of cholesterol, bile has several constituents, including bile acids – also known as bile salts – which also help our bodies absorb certain vitamins (particularly vitamin A, which is important for vision) and eliminate some toxins.
TUDCA has an imposing-sounding chemical name, especially when it's fully spelled out (see Ingredients section below). But it's actually a specific type of one of those bile salts that gets produced naturally to a small degree in people – and a much larger degree in bears, which is where it was first discovered. This happens when UDCA – the second part of the acronym, which is short for Ursodeoxycholic Acid, which is what certain bile salts can get transformed into when metabolized by the microbes in the intestines – also gets bonded to the amino acid Taurine (the Tauro part of the longer name).
As you can hear in more detail in this video and find additional references for starting with the reviews listed below, in addition to possibly reducing the formation of gallstones in those who do not have enough bile [which is what TUDCA is mainly used for in Europe], and potentially inhibiting scarring of the liver (fibrosis) in those with liver cirrhosis induced by toxins like alcohol or anabolic steroids, TUDCA may also help those whose bile is simply too thick that it starts blocking the bile ducts (a condition called cholestasis), which places stress on the liver and can have a range of associated symptoms.
TUDCA is also able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and appears to have neuroprotective properties: it's being actively researched in animal and lab models of Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease (HD), strokes, and retinal disorders.
Ingredients:
250 mg TUDCA (2-[[(3alpha,5beta,7beta)-3,7-Dihydroxy-24-oxocholan-24-yl]amino]ethanesulfonic acid)
27.5 mg Choline
Non-medicinal ingredients: Hypromellose, Magnesium stearate, Purified water, Silicon dioxide.
Suggested Usage:
Adults: Take 1 capsule 2 to 3 times per day, or as directed by a healthcare practitioner.
Warnings:
Keep out of reach of children. Consult a healthcare practitioner prior to use if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a known medical condition, or if symptoms persist or worsen after using for a while. Stop use if gastrointestinal discomfort/disturbances or hypersensitivity/allergy occurs. Some people may experience diarrhoea.
Health Canada Natural Product Number: 80080133303.
Supporting Science:
Cabrera, Daniel et al. “UDCA, NorUDCA, and TUDCA in Liver Diseases: A Review of Their Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Applications.” Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 2019.
Duszka, Kalina. “Versatile Triad Alliance: Bile Acid, Taurine and Microbiota.” Cells, 2022.
Freitas, Israelle Netto et al. “Insights by which TUDCA is a potential therapy against adiposity.” Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2023.
Khalaf, Kareem et al. “Tauroursodeoxycholic acid: a potential therapeutic tool in neurodegenerative diseases.” Translational Neurodegeneration, 2022.
Li, Jiaxian et al. “Neuroprotective Effect of Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA) on In Vitro and In Vivo Models of Retinal Disorders: A Systematic Review.” Current Neuropharmacology, 2024.
Conclusion reads: "Both in vitro and in vivo data suggested that TUDCA could effectively delay degeneration and apoptosis of retinal neurons, preserve retinal structure and function, and its mechanism of actions might be related with inhibiting apoptosis, decreasing inflammation, attenuating oxidative stress, suppressing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and reducing angiogenesis."
Lu, Qifan et al. “The effect of Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) and gut microbiota on murine gall bladder stone formation.” Annals of Hepatology, 2021.
National Center for Biotechnology Information. "PubChem Compound Summary for CID 9848818, Tauroursodeoxycholic acid." PubChem, Accessed 23 August, 2024.
Saeed, Ali et al. “The interrelationship between bile acid and vitamin A homeostasis.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, 2017.
Win, Alice et al. “Pharmacological and Metabolic Significance of Bile Acids in Retinal Diseases.” Biomolecules, 2021.