Welcome to my second pre workout deep dive, due to popular demand I am parking Malic acid for a while and pushing the tingle master supreme, Beta Alanine forward.
The engagement on the post was really nice to see and the comments and questions you all asked should help make this post more complete and prone to less gaps!
This blog post will be a results focused analysis of Beta Alanine with little to no focus on the bio chemical mechanisms of how it works, if a deeper dive into its mechanisms is wanted then I'll make one later down the line. Beta Alanine has been shown to have a positive effect in the mind, though this is not the focus of this article.
Without further ado, let's get into it.
What is Beta Alanine.
Beta Alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid found in meats and fish in small amounts, unlike most amino acids Beta Alanine isnt used as a protein building block but is used in conjunction with another amino acid, Histidine to make a dipeptide called Carnosine. Beta Alanine is the limiting substrate for Carnosine as Histidine is found in high levels naturally in the body, unlike Beta alanine which limits the production of Carnosine. [1]
So, now we know that Beta Alanine increases Carnosine content, its important to know what it is and does for our bodies.
What is Carnosine
Carnosine is a dipeptide amino acid that can be used as a protein building block which is found in high concentrations in the brain and muscle fibres. However Carnosine also acts as a PH buffer in the muscles during supra maximal exercise. [2]
What does Carnosine do
Animals that engage in supramaximal exercise aka all out explosive bursts of movement, such as pheasants, grey hounds and race horses all have high levels of muscle Carnosine content, [3] which has lead researchers to believe that muscle Carnosine may have a endurance and performance benefit during these periods of intense bouts of exercise.
Why not supplement with Carnosine directly
When ingested Carnosine breaks down back into its components parts while other bits get denatured in the digestive process making supplementing with Carnosine an ineffective way to increase muscle saturation levels.[4]
Practical application
Lean mass
Supplementing with 4g per day of Beta Alanine over a period of 8 weeks on trained athletes who followed a HIT and resistance training program gained 2.1lb of lean mass vs the 1.1lb of lean mass gained by the placebo group. [5] This however is not a standard outcome, the efficacy of Beta Alanine is much debated with some studies showing no difference between supplementing groups. [6] This could be down to the intensity of the training conducted, as Carnosine only seems to be leveraged during supra maximal bouts of exercise that last longer than 60 seconds. [7]
Strength
Strength gains from Beta alanine supplementation, like with lean mass, remains to be clear and cut. A study conducted on 16 untrained women over 8 weeks of 3.4g of supplementation found no noticeable differences in the placebo group to the Beta alanine group. Apart from the leg press where the Beta Alanine group had a significant increase in strength [8] Another study had 30 strength trained individuals taking 6.4g split up over the day over 5 weeks. This study found a significant increase in strength gain across the board. [9]
Endurance
Here, thankfully the science is a little more consistent. It has been found that Beta Alanine helps attenuate muscle fatigue during repeated bouts of short exercise but had negligible effect on exercise that lasted for to long, in this case the 400m race. [11] Other literature supports this conclusion with sprint athletes taking 6.4g a day showed decreased fatigue during training. [12] It is suggested that repeated bouts of high intensity exercise is where Beta Alanine shines, soldiers given Beta Alanine (no dose stated) for 4 weeks showed positive results in all measured markers [13]
Beta Alanine certainly seems to allow athletes to do more while training, which I suspect is the main reason strength and lean mass can be seen to increase as shown ealier.
When to take
A little like Creatine, there doesn't seem to be an optimal time to take Beta Alanine. As long as it is ingested each day prior to exercise to allow for the Carnosine conversion to happen. Some studies, suggest taking it in small does through the day to reduce the paresthesia that accompanies Bata Alanine supplementation. [9]
Do I need to cycle
There is no need to cycle Beta Alanine, our bodies do not seem develop resistance to it. after 24 weeks of continued use, no reductions on muscle Carnosine content was seen [14]
Dosing
More muscle Carnosine concentration studies need to be conducted to get a better picture of this. But from the studies already mentioned it seems that less than 3g is suboptimal for performance outcomes and a more desirable dose would be between 5-7g per day.
Side Effects
Other than the well known paresthesia (the tingles) which is not well understood at all but has been deemed safe [15], there doesnt seem to be any other side effects of Beta Alanine supplementation.
Bottom Line
Beta Alanine has been shown to have some benefits for performance outcomes and as a direct consequence an effect on body composition. Though not as dramatic as other supplements and very dependant on the effort put into the gym, I would still recommend Beta Alanine as an ingredient to add into your pre workout stack if you're trying to eke out every last drop of performance.
However, if you don't go hard, this supplement may not be suitable.
Anecdotally, I like the paresthesia that comes along with it and have enjoyed having it added to my stack despite the fairly minimal benefits that it proposes. Since it is fairly cheap as a single ingredient I will continue to have it in my stack as it is an inexpensive way of getting a bit more bang for my workouts.
Parting Words
Thats it for Beta Alanine, please comment below any questions you have, all the questions you had last week has helped me structure this breakdown with, what I hope to be, a more comprehensive review. Please also comment suggestions for next weeks breakdown. I will take the highest commented supplement as the winner.