Taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid, is an organic acid widely distributed in animal tissues. It is a major constituent of bile and can be found in the large intestine and accounts for approximately 0.1% of total human body weight. Taurine has many fundamental biological roles such as conjugation of bile acids, antioxidation, osmoregulation, membrane stabilization and modulation of calcium signaling. It is essential for cardiovascular function, and development and function of skeletal muscle, the retina and the central nervous system. Taurine is unusual among biological molecules in being a sulfonic acid, while the vast majority of biologically occurring acids contain the more weakly acidic carboxyl group. While taurine is sometimes called an amino acid, and indeed is an acid containing an amino group, it is not an amino acid in the usual biochemical meaning of the term, which refers to compounds containing both an amino and a carboxyl group.

Taurine is named after the Latin taurus (a cognate of the Greek ταύρος) which means bull or ox, as it was first isolated from ox bile in 1827 by German scientists Friedrich Tiedemann and Leopold Gmelin.

Rich Gaspari (born May 16, 1963) is an American former professional bodybuilder from 1980s and early 1990s. Gaspari was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2004. Gaspari started his own supplement company Gaspari Nutrition. The company was formed in 2001 and includes the popular bodybuilding supplements "IntraPro", "SuperPump250" and "SizeOn".

In 2011, actor Ryan Phillippe and boxer Shane Mosley presented Gaspari with the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame Award. Gaspari was featured on the cover of the October, 2011 issue of Iron Man (magazine), 23 years after he last appeared on the cover of the magazine.

Gaspari was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is a resident of Jackson Township, New Jersey.