Correlations between dietary taurine intake and life stress in Korean college students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between dietary taurine intake and life stress in Korean college students. The subjects were 320 college students (164 male and 156 female). A three day-recall method was used to assess dietary status (2 weekdays and 1 weekend). Life stress scores were determined using a self-administered life stress questionnaire. The higher stress scores indicate a high frequency and importance of the stress. Average dietary intake of taurine in male and female subjects was 124.1 +/- 78.8 mg/day and 96.9 +/- 71.7 mg/day, respectively. There were significant negative correlations between taurine intake and the frequency (p < 0.01), importance (p < 0.05) and total scores (p < 0.05) of life stress in female subjects while there were no significant correlations between taurine intake and the frequency, importance and total scores of life stress in male subjects. In female subjects a correlation existed between taurine intake and professor problems, friend problems and future problems (p < 0.05). These results suggest that dietary taurine intake may play an important role in reducing life stress.