What is β-Alanine?
Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid that is produced naturally in the body.Beta-alanine aids in the production of carnosine. That’s a compound that plays a role in muscle endurance in high-intensity exercise.
Note that Beta-Alanine is also known as:
- b-alanine
- β-alanine
- carnosine precursor
What does beta-alanine do?
Beta-alanine is one of the two building blocks for a molecule called carnosine. The other building block of carnosine is an amino acid called histidine.
Carnosine is found in a high concentration in muscle tissue and has a number of key roles to play in muscular function.
Beta-alanine ingestion increases the carnosine content in muscles, which may lead to enhanced benefits compared to relying on the beta-alanine produced by the body alone – although research is ongoing into the benefits of supplementation.
Benefits of Beta Alanine:
- Train harder and longer by supporting muscle health and output*
- Optimize training by increasing perceived time-to-exhaustion*
- Clinically studied for benefiting athletic performance*
- Supports muscle pH to resist fatigue and delayed onset muscle soreness*
- Antioxidant effect protects tissues from oxidative stress and free radical damage*
Beta alanine is a Beta-Alanine nutritional supplement whose ergogenic role in sports is partly due to its antioxidant action and partly due to its function as a precursor to Carnosine: a dipeptide present in high concentrations within the human skeletal muscle which is capable of staunching lactic acid in muscles, supporting resistance in the case of intense exercise, and assisting recovery after competitions or training.
Can you get beta-alanine from food?
Food sources of beta-alanine and carnosine include:
- Meat
- Fish
- Poultry (especially white meat like that found in chicken breasts)
What are the risks of taking beta-alanine supplements?
Some people have reported tingling of the skin after taking large doses of beta-alanine.
Beta-alanine may interact with some heart medications and with drugs for erectile dysfunction. And its safety has not been established for children, people with particular diseases or conditions, or for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Talk to your doctor before you take beta-alanine.
HOW DOES BETA-ALANINE WORK?
Beta-alanine works by binding with histidine in both the brain and the muscles. This binding creates carnosine. Using beta-alanine supplements helps to enhance carnosine levels in the body by up to 80%. By increasing carnosine levels, we can prevent the acid build-up that contributes to fatigue when training.
In one 28-day study, participants saw a 12% increase in working capacity and a 16.9% increase in a physical working capacity. Another study found that beta-alanine improved exercise capacity and power, mainly when performing short bursts of high-intensity exercise.
Quick Tip: Beta-alanine works by enhancing carnosine levels to delay muscle fatigue and speed recovery.
Who can benefit:
- Athletes and fitness enthusiasts wanting to optimize their training*
- Aging individuals wanting to optimize and maintain muscle mass*
- Individuals wanting to limit animal protein in their diet*
