Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of taurine. Most people haven’t, and that apparently includes Microsoft since it’s not even in my spellchecker.

It’s an amino acid found in the tastiest part of the chicken, aka the dark meat you’ve been told not to eat.

Well, go ahead and eat up — because a new study finds that some women with high dietary levels of taurine have a lower risk of a heart attack.

Researchers from the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York checked the records on more than 14,000 women between the ages of 34 and 65, and found…almost nothing.

Not at first, anyway.

But once they started to break the numbers down, they found that high blood levels of taurine slashed the risk of heart disease by 60 percent in women with total cholesterol levels of more than 250 mg/dL.

The study doesn’t prove that taurine lowers heart risk, nor does it indicate why that connection would even exist. But let’s take a stab at it here and guess that women with higher cholesterol AND high taurine came by their cholesterol levels honestly.

They’re eating natural meats and dairy — all great sources of taurine — and if their cholesterol levels happen to be a little elevated by mainstream standards, they’ve really got nothing to worry about.

And thanks to that healthier diet, they’re probably going to have a lower risk of a heart attack anyway.

Women with high cholesterol and low taurine, on the other hand, might be getting their chicken from a greasy paper bucket and other nutritionally empty sources — and that’s the best way to ensure you’ll experience heart problems eventually.

Again, that’s just a guess. And since this is just one study, I wouldn’t rush out to stock up on taurine in any case (but feel free to grill up some chicken thighs).

When it comes to protecting your ticker, stick with the tried-and-true. And for some tips on the best tried-and-true nutrients out there, I turned to one of the nation’s leading experts on natural health.

Dr. Mark Stengler, a California naturopath and author of multiple best-selling books on natural cures, says there are four supplements everyone interested in cardiovascular health should be taking: fish oil, coenzyme Q10, L-Carnitine and magnesium.

If you’re missing out on any of these, do your heart a favor and add them to your supplement regimen today. They’re inexpensive, easy to find and they could save your life.

When it comes to blood pressure, it seems like the mainstream has just two answers: a low-salt diet and meds.

And both of them are bad ideas.

Ask anyone who’s tried a low-salt diet, and they’ll tell you it didn’t cure their hypertension…and next thing they knew, the doc was writing a prescription.

But you don’t have to fail on one to get the other.

You can bring your blood pressure under control with simple lifestyle changes, and new studies show two of the easiest ways to shave a few points off your levels right now: Drink more tea and get more magnesium.

A new analysis of 22 trials finds that people who take magnesium supplements can cut an average of 4 points off their systolic (“top number”) blood pressure and 3 points off their diastolic blood pressure.

The study didn’t look at dietary intake, but I can tell you right now that most people simply don’t get enough from diet alone. In fact, magnesium has quietly become one of our most common nutritional deficiencies.

You’ll find it in leafy greens like spinach and chard as well as some nuts — but few foods pack enough to cover a whole day’s needs. In fact, to get what you really need, you’d have to have magnesium-rich food with every meal of the day.

And that’s why most people are missing out.

Magnesium supplements are cheap, effective and widely available — so grab some today.

And while you’re out shopping, pick up a box of tea.

I like Earl Grey myself — but it doesn’t matter which one you prefer, because a new placebo-controlled study of 95 men and women finds that any black tea can also trim a few points off your BP levels.

Those who drank three cups a day for six months saw drops of between two and three points when compared to those who were given a placebo drink.

But you don’t have to stick to black, because other studies have found similar numbers for green tea.

Just don’t count on bottled teas to deliver those benefits. You’d actually have to drink 20 bottles of store-bought tea to get the healthy polyphenols you’ll find naturally in a single fresh-brewed cup.

That’s a lot of tea.

When it comes to booze and heart health, wine usually gets all the attention — but it doesn’t quite deserve it.

Sure, wine is great for you — but it’s not the only healthy adult beverage in the bar.

In fact, you can get just about all the benefits of wine and then some from plain old beer — and the latest research confirms that a cold brew is every bit as good for your heart as a glass of red.

Researchers from Italy’s Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura say their survey of 200,000 people from around the world finds that regular beer drinkers have a 31 percent lower risk of heart disease than people who don’t drink booze at all.

That’s precisely the same decrease in heart risk enjoyed by wine drinkers — but it’s coming from hops and barley instead of grapes, according to the study in the European Journal of Epidemiology.

And that’s not all beer can do for you — not even close. Beer is also rich in potassium, magnesium, B vitamins and key antioxidants. It can help lower the inflammation linked to heart disease and other serious problems, and raise levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol by as much as 12 percent.

Beer is also the single best source of dietary silicon around, which can help protect your bones as you age.

One study even found that dieters who drink beer can lose more weight — proving that the so-called “beer belly” is a myth. If you see a drinker with a big belly, take a look at what he’s eating — because that’s almost certainly the real reason for his keg-sized gut.

Of course, whether you drink wine or beer, you’ll only get the benefits if you make your habit a moderate one and cut yourself off before you drink too much (and if you have to wonder if you’ve had too much, you’ve probably reached that point).

Keep it to a glass or two a night, and you’ll enjoy both the benefits and the taste.

So go ahead — pop the cork or crack open a frosty one. It’s good for you.

People looking for a little help getting to sleep used to drink a glass of warm milk.

That, or maybe a little brandy.

But there’s another drink that might help you get off to dreamland quicker — and it’s not what you’d expect.

It’s tart cherry juice — and a new study finds that just two cups a day can help you sleep an average of 39 minutes longer and get a 6 percent boost in sleep efficiency.

That’s the amount of time you spend in bed actually asleep, instead of wondering when you’ll fall asleep.

Twenty volunteers were given either two cups of tart cherry juice concentrate diluted in water or two cups of ordinary fruit juice every day for a week — one in the morning, and one at night.

And along with more time asleep and better sleep efficiency, the cherry juice drinkers had dramatic bumps in melatonin levels. That’s the “sleep hormone” that some people take as a supplement — and apparently, tart cherries will work almost as well.

On the other hand, it’s probably easier — and cheaper — for most people to just add a melatonin supplement.

Whatever you do, make sure a good night’s sleep is on your agenda — because poor sleep has been linked to erectile dysfunction, hypertension, cognitive decline and even an early death.

Don’t look to sleeping pills for help — they can make matters worse, with some of the most popular meds linked to horrible side effects, including sleepers who get up and engage in bizarre behavior while still actually asleep.

Go natural instead — and if cherry juice isn’t your cup of tea, try a 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium in the evening. This combination can help you get to sleep quicker, and sleep better once you’re out.

In addition, a supplement of valerian root or valerian tea has also been shown to help bring about a good night’s sleep — try it about 30 minutes or so before bedtime.