Beta alanine supplementation

August 18, 2019

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Bryan Saunders

Beta-alanine has become a “must-have” supplement for many athletes, but does
the science support the hype? Its inclusion as one of five performance-enhancing
supplements with enough evidence to support its use in the International Olympic
Committee’s recent consensus statement suggests it does. But what is beta-
alanine, what does it do and in what situations might someone benefit this popular
supplement? 
 
Carnosine
The compound of interest in the body is carnosine, a dipeptide made up of the
amino acids, histidine and beta-alanine. It is predominantly found in muscle which
suggests it plays an important role during exercise. Carnosine can perform several
physiological roles, although its function as a muscle buffer is most widely accepted
as its predominant role during high-intensity exercise. This means that it can buffer
the hydrogen ions (H+) that are generated during anaerobic glycolysis; these
H+ contribute to muscle acidosis which can lead to muscle fatigue.
Therefore, increasing the muscle carnosine content can improve muscle pH
regulation, which could lead to performance improvements during exercise that is
limited by the accumulation of these H+
 
Original study
We know that beta-alanine is the rate-limiting factor in muscle carnosine synthesis,
hence why we only supplement with this amino acid. The pioneering study of Prof.
Roger Harris showed that chronic supplementation of 4 weeks with beta-alanine
can increase muscle carnosine content (Harris et al., 2006), with almost all
subsequent studies showing increases across individuals with between 2 and 24
weeks of supplementation between 3.2 and 6.4 g/day. 
 

 
Meta-analysis
We performed a meta-analysis of all the evidence on beta-alanine supplementation
on exercise available up until 2017 and showed that, on average, beta-alanine
does lead to moderate improvements in exercise capacity and
performance (Saunders et al., 2017). However, a couple of factors may modify this
response, the most important being the duration of the exercise you undertake. Our
results suggest that high-intensity exercise lasting between 30 s and 10 min is the
timeframe most likely to benefit from beta-alanine supplementation. This includes,
but is not limited to, sports such as 100 and 200 m swimming, 4-km time-trial
cycling, 2000 m rowing and 800 m running. Exercise less than 30 s is not of
sufficient duration to be affected by muscle acidosis, while endurance exercise is
also less likely to be affected due to its more aerobic nature. That being said, it is
possible that short periods of high-intensity activity performed throughout longer
duration exercise may be improved with beta-alanine, such as a sprint finish at the
end of a prolonged cycling race.
 
Training status
Importantly, it must be noted that we showed the more trained the individual, the
smaller the effect beta-alanine is likely to have. This is possibly due to less room for
improvement in already trained individuals. Nonetheless, it is worth considering that
these gains are more valuable for athletes as it may translate into worthwhile
improvements in competition. Medal rankings in several Olympic sports are
separated by less than 1% while sprint finishes in cycling are separated by less
than 1% while spirant finished are separated by thousandths of a second. 
 
Is it safe?
So, it can increase muscle carnosine and improve performance, but is it safe to
use? The overwhelming evidence suggests it is, and a recent meta-analytic
summary of the available data concluded that beta-alanine can safely be consumed
by health individuals in doses of up to 6.4 g/day up to 24 weeks (Dolan et al.,
2019). However, many users will know that there is a common side-effect which
feels like an itchy or tingling sensation on the skin shortly after taking the
supplement. This sensation, which is termed paraesthesia, is related to a rapid
increase of beta-alanine in the blood which subsides within 60-90 minutes and has
no long-term health effects.
 
It tingles, so it works.....
While some common beliefs are that these sensations mean the supplement is
working, the only acute effect this might have is as a placebo. It's surprising the
number of individuals who find this sensation to be pleasant and believe it can help
their workout but, since only chronic beta-alanine ingestion leads to changes in
muscle carnosine content which may improve exercise, maybe it’s just better to put
down that beta-alanine-containing pre-workout and save yourself some cash! 
 
Practical recommendation
Which leads us into the final detail of how to take beta-alanine to maximise the
likelihood of an exercise benefit. Recommended doses would be 3.2 to 6.4 g/day,
with individual doses of 0.8-1.6 g every 3-4 h throughout the day to avoid
paraesthesia. Unless, of course, that’s what you’re in to. Ooh it tingles! 
 
References
 
DOLAN, E., SWINTON, P. A., PAINELLI, V. S., STEPHENS HEMINGWAY, B.,
MAZZOLANI, B., INFANTE SMAIRA, F., SAUNDERS, B., ARTIOLI, G. G. &
GUALANO, B. 2019. A Systematic Risk Assessment and Meta-Analysis on the Use
of Oral beta-Alanine Supplementation. Adv Nutr.
 
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
absorption of orally supplied beta-alanine and its effect on muscle carnosine
synthesis in human vastus lateralis. Amino Acids,30,279-289.
 
SAUNDERS, B., ELLIOTT-SALE, K., ARTIOLI, G. G., SWINTON, P. A., DOLAN,
E., ROSCHEL, H., SALE, C. & GUALANO, B. 2017. beta-alanine supplementation
to improve exercise capacity and performance: a systematic review and meta-
analysis. Br J Sports Med,51,658-669.
 
 
*Bryan Saunders has previously received a scholarship from Natural Alternatives
International (NAI), San Marcos, California to undertake a study on beta-alanine.
NAI has also provided free beta-alanine supplements for several original studies
conducted by Dr Saunders, but NAI has never had any input into study design,
interpretation or dissemination of results.