Athletes are always trying to get an edge. Dietary supplements are a common way to ingest isolated compounds to get an ergogenic (improved performance) benefit. Supplementation amongst athletes is extremely common, with around 99% of Canadian varsity athletes taking some sort of supplement (Kristiansen, 2005). Some of the most commonly used supplements are Whey Powder (or other forms of protein) to increase total protein intake and drive muscle protein synthesis, as well as Creatine to increase muscle force and power. However, one major reason for athletes to seek out supplementation is to aid in the mitigation of fatigue. If an athlete gets tired before their opponent they generally lose. If you get tired in the gym or on the track you do less reps or sprints. Some common ways to combat this are through ingesting large amounts of caffeine or sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). However, if you drink coffee on the regular (who doesn’t?) caffeine pills don’t help much, and ingesting baking soda can cause stomach upset (plus that sounds gross!).

However, there is one common, yet poorly understood, supplement that can help reduce fatigue in athletes... 

...Beta-Alanine.

What’s Beta-Alanine?

Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid that is produced by the liver. It can also be consumed in the diet from poultry and meat, or supplemented in powder form. When Beta-Alanine is absorbed by the body it combines with another amino-acid, L-Histidine, to create a much larger molecule, Carnosine. This is really what we care about when we are supplementing with Beta...we are wanting to increase our muscle concentration of Carnosine. Levels can increase between 20-80% after 2-10 weeks of regular supplementation (Trexler, 2015), with some research suggesting much higher increases over longer durations.

How does higher levels of Carnosine improve performance?

Ok, so taking Beta-Alanine increases our levels of Carnosine...why should you care? During high intensity exercise, we break down muscle glycogen and blood glucose for energy which results in a steady rise of Hydrogen Ions (H+ or protons) in the muscle. As you keep exercising, these H+ will accumulate and decrease your body's pH, meaning you become more acidic (this is the burn you feel during exercise). This increase in acidity is problematic because it interferes with muscle contraction and limits how much energy you can produce, thus causing a decrease in force output and performance. In other words, you become fatigued!

Now, obviously as you become more well trained your body becomes more adept at dealing with this increase in acidity and can delay how quickly fatigue sets in. However, taking a supplement that can help buffer, or decrease, this over accumulation of H+ would be very beneficial from a performance standpoint. This is where Beta-Alanine and Carnosine come in. Carnosine is an interesting molecule, because due to its structure it can accept a H+ ion. If Carnosine levels are high enough it can go around soaking up a bunch of these dastardly pH dropping protons, thus helping to delay fatigue (Culbertson, 2010). Nice. Carnosine has also been shown to act as an antioxidant (Klebanovi, 1998), going around scavenging free radicals to reduce oxidative stress caused by exercise. Double Nice.

Since Beta-Alanine aids in the buffering of fatigue inducing particles, it is only useful during high intensity exercise durations long enough to cause this increase in H+. Since there is relatively low H+ accumulation in high-intensity efforts <10 seconds, Beta-Alanine generally won’t help with performance here. However, after around 30 seconds there is a drastic rise in H+ and subsequently a drop in performance (have you ever tried sprinting for more than 10 seconds?) and this is where Beta-Alanine supplementation has been shown to improve performance. Most commonly, Beta-Alanine has been shown to improve Work Capacity during exercise durations between 1-4 minutes (Hobson, 2012), meaning you can go for longer at a given power output or work at a higher power output during the same time frame. However, newer research is suggesting Beta can improve performance between 30s-10min (Saunders, 2017). 

In practical terms, sports where you are working at a high-intensity for greater than 30s continuously (400m sprint, jiu-jitsu, 200m swim, Crossfit etc), or shorter duration bursts with incomplete rest between efforts for a sustained period (Rugby 7s, soccer, boxing etc), will get the most ergogenic benefit from Beta-Alanine supplementation.

TL;DR: Beta-Alanine supplementation increases muscle concentrations of Carnosine. Carnosine delays fatigue by picking up fatigue inducing Hydrogen ions. It helps to improve Work Capacity between exercise durations of 30 seconds - 10 minutes.

How to take?

Given that it has been less rigorously studied than say Creatine, not as much is known on optimal loading doses or maintenance phases. That being said Beta-Alanine is fairly straightforward to take, and has some good evidence behind it on how best to use it. It comes in a cheap white powder, and the most commonly recommended dose is 4-6g per day. After 2 weeks of consistent usage, muscle Carnosine levels start to rise (~20-30% increase), and performance benefits usually occur after 4 weeks (~40-60% increase). Taking all your Beta-Alanine in one go could result in paraesthesia (i.e., tingly skin) for around 30-60 minutes, which isn’t overly comfortable. The way to avoid this is to break your dose up into 3-4 smaller doses (e.g. 2 grams 3x per day). Washout times are less understood (i.e., time to return to baseline after you stop taking) but best estimates are it can take up to 16 weeks. 

Is it safe?

Aside from the aforementioned tingly skin, Beta-Alanine is quite safe in healthy adults when taken at the recommended doses. Even though there is limited research on long term safety data (i.e., >1 year) safety concerns remain low due to the fact that Beta-Alanine is already created naturally by the body.

Take Home Points?

• Beta-Alanine supplementation works by increasing muscle Carnosine levels to buffer H+, delay fatigue and increase Work Capacity.

• The greatest benefit is seen during high-intensity exercise lasting between 30 seconds to 10 minutes, with no benefit in exercise lasting <30 seconds.

• Recommended dosage of 4-6g per day, broken up into 3-4 smaller doses, taken for at least 2-4 weeks to see an improvement in exercise performance.

• The only reported side-effect is tingling, which can be avoided by taking smaller doses throughout the day. Otherwise it is safe in healthy adults.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article! If you found it useful, please help spread the word by sharing it with someone you know.

- Coach Gies