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Beta Alanine (BA) helps to raise intra muscular levels of a substance called carnosine. Carnosine is abundant in skeletal muscle and brain tissue and improves performance by buffering H+ (Hydrogen Ions) which cause the burning sensation we encounter during high intensity exercise. Beta Alanine, when combined with another substance called Histidine, form to make carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine). At this stage you are probably wondering why don’t we supplement with L-Histidine? The answer is L-Hisditine is extremely abundant in skeletal muscle therefore there is no ergogenic advantage of supplementing with this further. Secondly you may be thinking why don’t we just supplement with carnosine? The answer is that carnosine when ingested is broken down into its subsidiaries: Beta Alanine and Histidine, and is then reformed into carnosine. Beta Alanine is the rate limiting factor in this resynthesis process and this is the reason for its supplementation. So why does the buffering of H+ help improve performance? The answer lies in the pH balance of the cell during exercise. As we exercise the level of H+ steadily increase in a logarithmic fashion, this is caused by lactic acid dissociating these ions aswell as a byproduct of ATP resynthesis, these cause a consequential lowering of pH, causing our muscles pH balance to become more acidic. This is bad for performance as a low pH inhibits the enzymes in our muscles which cause them to contract forcibly, thus causing a drop in performance. With the addition of beta alanine, our muscle carnosine levels rise, in some cases by upto 47% (Degrave et al, 2007). Carnosine helps to buffer the H+ ions and stabilize the muscle pH balance. This mainly occurs in our type II muscle fibres (the ones used predominantly during high intensity exercise) but to some extent also occurs in type 1 (aerobic) muscle fibres, extra cellular fluid and within brain tissue. (Hill et al, 2007) .
Research Findings
Studies show that even from 4 weeks of supplementation with beta-alanine there is a significant improvement in muscular endurance during resistance training, and that this is not a factor of improved endocrine levels (such as growth hormone or testosterone levels) but of improved intramuscular biochemistry due to increased carnosine levels (Hoffman et al, 2008). The extent to which beta-alanine can improve carnosine levels has not be quantitatively reported, however one study showed that supplementation increased carnosine content in the soleus by 47% and the gastrocnemius by 37%. This increase significantly attenuated fatigue in the participants who performance repeated bouts of exhaustive dynamic contraction, such as those performed within the gym (Derave et al, 2007) It is thought that a longer based dosing protocol may be more effective for increasing carnosine levels, for example one recent study looked at the effects of 10 weeks dosing as opposed to 4 weeks. It was found that after 4 weeks of supplementation with beta alanine mean carnosine levels increased by 58.8% which is consistant with other research, however 10 weeks of supplementation increased levels by 80.1% which was consistant over by type I and II muscle fibres. These levels of carnosine significant increased total work done (TWD) within the experiment’s participants (Hills et al, 2007) Another recent study highlighted the exact performance markers that beta alanine supplementation can help increase. With 28 days supplementation of beta alanine, physical working capacity at fatigue threshold (PWCFT), ventilatory threshold (VT), maximal oxygen consumption (VO2-MAX), and time-to-exhaustion (TTE) were all improved (Stout et al, 2007). Further research has looked at the synergistic effect of beta alanine supplementation combined with creatine monohydrate supplementation. One study suggested a potential performance enhancing effect within endurance performance (Zoeller et al, 2007) with another recent study showing a beneficial effect on strength performance, body composition and lean tissue accruement (Hoffman et al, 2006) Finally there is also some research evidence of beta-alanine having a hepatoprotective effective (liver protective). One study shows that a supplementation of beta alanine helped against liver injury by elevating cysteine and glutathione levels (Lee & Kim, 2007). Another study suggested a protective effect in hypoxic liver injury (Vairetti et al, 2002). It should however be noted that these studies were on the rodent so its consequences in humans cannot be extrapolated. Dosing Protocol
Harris et al (2006) looked at doses of 10mg/kg 20mg/kg and 40mg/kg per day split over doses of 400-800mg. The respective increase in carnosine levels were 42.1%, 64.2% and 65.8% suggesting that 40mg/kg is the optimal dose. However further evidence suggested an even higher dose of 80mg/kg may be more effective. Combined with the research from Hill et al (2007) we would recommend a 80mg/kg dose for 10 weeks and then a maintenance dose of 40mg/kg there after. For a 80KG athlete this would mean: 80 x 80mg = 6.4g daily dose split over 4 1.6g doses. This can be taken at breakfast, pre workout, post workout and in the evening for 10 weeks. After the ten week period the dose can be reduced to 3.2g daily taken as 1.6g pre workout and 1.6g post workout.
In Summary Beta alanine has been shown in men (Hills et al, 2007) and women (Stout et al, 2007) to be safe with the only known side effect of a slight tingling feeling after consumption. This is known as paraesthesia and is caused by a harmless rise in the sensitivity of sensory neurons in the skin, for some individuals subsides after use. Other speculation has suggested that beta alanine causes a drop in muscle taurine levels however in a 10 week trial beta alanine was shown to have no effect on taurine levels (Hills et al 2007).
References Derave, W., Ozdemir, M.S., Harris, R.C., Pottier, A., Reyngoudt, H., Koppo, K., Wise, J.A., & Achten, E. (2007). Beta-Alanine supplementation augments muscle carnosine content and attenuates fatigue during repeated isokentic contraction bouts in trained sprinters. J Appl Physiol, 5, 1736-43
Harris, R.C., Tallon, M.J., Dunnett, M., Boobis, L., Coakley, J., Kim, H.J., Fallowfield, J.L., Hill, C.A., Sale, C., & Wise, J.A. (2006) The absorbtion of orally supplied beta-alanine and its effects on muscle carnosine synthesis in human vastus lateralis. Amino Acids, 3, 279-89
Hill, C.A., Harris, R.C., Kim, H.J., Harris, B.D., Sale, C., Boobis, L.H., Kim, C.K., & Wise, J.A. (2007). Influence of beta-alanine supplementation on skeletal muscle carnosine concentrations and high intensity cycling capacity. Amino Acids, 2, 225-33.
Hoffman, J., Ratamess, N.A., Ross, R., Kang, J., Magrelli, J., Neese, K., Faigenbaum, A.D., & Wise, J.A. (2008). Beta-Alanine and the Hormonal Response to Exercise. Int J Sports Med [Epub ahead of print]
Hoffman, J., Ratamess, N., Kang, J., Mangine, G., Faigenbaum, A., & Stout, J. (2006) Effect of creatine and beta-alanine supplementation on performance and endocrine responses in strenth/power athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 4, 430-46.
Lee, S.Y., & Kim, K.C. (2007). Effect of beta-alanine administration on carbon tetrachloride-induced acute hapatotoxicity. Amino Acids, 3, 543-6.
Stout, J.R., Cramer, J.T., Zoeller, R.F., Torok, D., Costa, P., Hoffman, J.R., Harris, R.C., & O’Kroy, J. (2006). Effects of beta-alanine supplementation on the onset of neuromuscular fatigue and ventilatory threshold in women. Amino Acids, 3, 381-6.
Vairetti, M., Carini, R., De Cesaris, M.G., Splendore, R., Richelmi, P., Berte, F., & Albano, E. (2002). Beta-alanine protection against hypoxic liver injury in the rat. Biochem biophys acta, 1, 83-91.
Zoeller, R.F., Stout, J.R., O’Kroy, J.A., Torok, D.J., & Mielke, M. (2007). Effects of 28 days of beta-alanine and creatine monohydrate supplementation on aerobic power, ventilatory and lactate thresholds and time to exhaustion. Amino Acids, 3, 505-10.
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