Beta-Alanine: Is This the Next Creatine?

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TweetBeta-Alanine: Is This the Next Creatine?


Learn How This Potent Amino Acid May be Able to Delay Fatigue and Increase Strength
Over the last decade of examining and researching sports supplements, there have been very few compounds that have passed my stringent criteria for gaining access to supplement stardom. Creatine, of course, is the most popular and most effective.

It easily hurdled the challenges of requiring a physiologic basis for success, of providing solid research backing, and of proving itself with athletes and fitness professionals. Almost every day, there are new compounds that challenge this criteria, but few pass the test. One that just might is an amino acid called beta-alanine.

If I can explain how a supplement can improve your physique or exercise performance in one sentence, and anyone off the street can understand it, I know we’re at a good starting point. I know there’s potential. Fortunately, I can do that with beta-alanine just as easily as I can with creatine. Here’s the sentence: Beta-Alanine triggers events in the muscle cell that buffer the acidity produced during high-intensity exercise, increasing energy and power while delaying fatigue. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

For reasons you’ll discover momentarily, beta-alanine works best for anaerobic, high-intensity activities such as power events, which naturally include weight training. It means you’ll be stronger, experience less fatigue, and be able to perform more sets at higher intensities. In short, it promotes growth and strength, two areas that will never lose popularity. Now that I’ve got your interest, let’s figure out how it works.

How Beta-Alanine Works in Your Body

Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid that is common in many foods we eat, such as chicken. By itself, it’s not much of an ergogenic aid. But when it enters the muscle cell, it becomes the rate-limiting substrate to carnosine synthesis (1). In other words, without beta-alanine, our muscle cells don’t make any carnosine (or at least don’t make enough to matter). We need carnosine, a chemical found primarily in fast-twitch muscle, to buffer H+, so the pH levels in our muscles don’t drop so low that our muscles are burning so bad that we have to quit. Simply put, if you’re cutting your sets prematurely, you’re not growing. Make sense?

Interestingly, carnosine concentrations in athletes, such as sprinters and bodybuilders, appear to be significantly higher than those of marathon runners, untrained individuals and the elderly.2 Furthermore, intense physical training is capable of increasing muscle carnosine levels.

For example, twelve days of intense training in elite speed skaters has been shown to increase muscle carnosine content by 87 percent.2 Suzuki et al. recently examined the relationship between skeletal muscle carnosine levels and high-intensity exercise performance, and discovered a significant relationship between carnosine concentration and mean power.5 Basically, the higher the carnosine, the better the performance. In theory, increasing skeletal muscle carnosine levels (via beta-alanine supplementation or intense training) should increase buffering capacity, delay fatigue and increase exercise performance.

So why don’t we just take carnosine? Certainly some misinformed supplement companies have tried packaging it, but it won’t work. Once L-carnosine enters the digestive system, it is hydrolyzed into histidine and beta-alanine, which is then taken up by skeletal muscle and synthesized into carnosine.2 Due to the immediate hydrolysis, carnosine can not be taken up into the muscle intact. Since much of it is lost during digestion, and much of what’s left is used to create beta-alanine, it’s much more effective (both physiologically and monetarily) to take beta-alanine.






Real-World Proof that Beta-Alanine Works

In fact, one study reported that four weeks of supplementing beta-alanine (4 to 6 grams per day) resulted in a mean increase of 64 percent in skeletal muscle.2 Recently Hill et al. examined the effect of beta-alanine supplementation on muscle carnosine levels and exercise performance in untrained subjects.3 In double-blind fashion, 20 men (ranging in age from 19 to 31 years old) supplemented with either 4 grams beta-alanine or a sugar placebo for the first week, then up to 6.4 grams for an additional nine weeks.

By week four, mean carnosine levels increased by 58 percent. Six weeks later, there was another 15 percent increase. The researchers also recorded a 16 percent increase in total work performed during cycle ergometry.

Another recent study examined the effects of beta-alanine supplementation on physical working capacity at fatigue threshold (PWCFT) in untrained young men.4 In double blind fashion, subjects consumed either 1.6 grams of beta-alanine or sugar placebo four times per day for six days, then 3.2 grams per day for 22 days.

The results revealed a significantly greater increase in PWCFT of 9 percent over placebo. The findings suggest that beta-alanine supplementation for 28 days may delay the onset of neuromuscular fatigue and improve work capacity.

More work capacity equals more reps and more sets in a given workout. It means more sets at a higher intensity with less fatigue. That, my friend, means more growth and more strength. If beta-alanine can do that, it’s my pick for the next blue-chip, high-profile sports supplement.

Beta-Alanine + Creatine = The Ultimate in Muscle Growth and Performance

When you combine beta-alanine with creatine, the longstanding star in the supplement industry, you get a powerful one-two punch the almost guarantees (along with some hard work in the gym) that you’ll see serious results. In fact, the combination of beta-alanine and creatine have been shown to:

-Boost work capacity, muscular power output, and strength-endurance
-Enhance the ability to squeeze extra reps at the end of each set
-Aid athletes in moderate distance sprints
-Help maintain muscular power

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Tweetgood article bro...
maybe i missed it, but whats the optimum amout to use with creatine for the best results?