Beta-alanine: Who, why and how to take it?
By now I think many of you have heard about beta-alanine and the excitement it has generated in the sports and scientific community. In fact, it is a very popular supplement among athletes that helps improve strength-endurance capabilities . This article explains what you need to know about beta-alanine, how it works and when to use it.
Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid , classified as a non-proteinogenic amino acid, that is, it is not primarily involved in protein synthesis. Rather, it is responsible for increasing intramuscular buffer capacities with the help of histidine by allowing, together, the synthesis of carnosine . Another amino acid that is stored in skeletal muscles and that is of particular interest to us today.
So, while you can get this amino acid through food, you would have to eat a lot of meat (pounds and pounds!) before you would get a minimal effective dose. So, to make things easier on your stomach as well as your wallet, using a supplement will allow you to get enough beta-alanine easily and very quickly. Also, if you are vegetarian or vegan, you will have a very hard time getting beta-alanine and should definitely consider taking a supplement.
The key, carnosine
It should be noted that at the muscle level, histidine levels are generally high and beta-alanine levels are very low. It is this latter limiting factor that hinders the production of carnosine. This is why taking beta-alanine is indicated in order to optimize carnosine production.
How it works, in brief
The mechanism of action of carnosine during exercise is as follows:
The muscle environment becomes more acidic : hydrogen ions reduce the pH level in your muscles.
Fatigue sets in : muscle acidity blocks the breakdown of glucose and reduces the ability of muscles to contract and exert force.
Essentially, you can train harder, longer.
Only there is a problem. The amount of carnosine that can be produced at the cellular level depends on the amount of beta-alanine, not histidine. It is only when the body has an excess of beta-alanine (through supplementation) that it produces high levels of carnosine.
This explains the logic of beta-alanine supplementation: to easily and quickly increase carnosine concentrations in muscle tissue. It is through this indirect effect of beta-alanine that carnosine really exerts its influence.
You may ask yourself, “Why not just take carnosine? ” Well, because carnosine breaks down as soon as it enters the bloodstream! Fortunately, ingesting beta-alanine allows you to synthesize Carnosine with the help of Histidine.
What for?
Whether you are a professional or amateur athlete, you know the importance of endurance on performance. Beta-alanine as a supplement helps increase intracellular buffering capacity during exercise, allowing athletes to perform intense efforts for a little longer. So, if you are looking for a boost in anaerobic lactic performance, beta-alanine is for you.
Beta-alanine can reduce fatigue, increase endurance, and enhance performance in high-intensity exercise.
In general, muscle acidosis and pain limit the duration of intense exercise over a moderate period. For this reason, beta-alanine specifically helps performance during intense efforts lasting from ten seconds to several minutes (after exhaustion of the anaerobic alactic pathway) by delaying exhaustion. You can exercise harder, longer ( Blancquaert, L et al) .
For strength training, it helps increase training volume and reduce fatigue on medium/long sets to failure. Additionally, there is some evidence that beta-alanine benefits body composition through this increase in training volume, which ultimately promotes muscle growth (Increased muscular endurance can lead to increased training volume and therefore increased gains if used wisely).
Sports – Beta-alanine supplementation can also improve cardiovascular performance at a minimum intensity threshold. Therefore, beta-alanine offers a definite advantage to athletes in a number of sports that require intermittent efforts such as cycling, football, rugby, boxing, rowing, sprinting, climbing, etc.
In summary, all sports activities where strength, power and muscular endurance are required, with intense / intermittent efforts of up to ~4 minutes can benefit from beta-alanine supplementation.
To think about…
While beta-alanine helps most athletes, endurance athletes who train at low to moderate intensity levels—the aerobic pathway—may not notice any tangible effects simply because their bodies are not producing as many excess hydrogen ions as athletes who train at higher intensity. However, they may benefit from beta-alanine at some point, such as during hills or sprints, or in general fitness training.
There is also some evidence that beta-alanine may benefit your health and longevity through the antioxidant action of carnosine ( Stout, J. R et al ). However, the studies are still in the animal testing stage, so we’ll have to wait a little longer before we can claim beta-alanine as a miracle cure ;-).
When should beta alanine be taken and in what quantity?
Typically, it is recommended to take ~6-10 grams per day of beta-alanine for the first week of supplementation and then progress to 3-5 grams . This should be divided into one or two doses before or during training as beta-alanine has the ability to provide an acute stimulant response that can be useful during this time.
However, keep in mind that the performance benefits of beta-alanine are based on increasing muscle carnosine concentrations over time. Therefore, the consistency of beta-alanine intake is much more important than the timing. Real performance benefits of beta-alanine typically occur after two weeks of supplementation, so don’t give up if you don’t see benefits right away.
Note that when you first start taking beta-alanine, you will feel a tingling sensation, as the nerves under the skin are stimulated. Don’t worry if you feel itchy, this is a sign that the supplement is doing its job.
