Prolong Fatigue with Beta-Alanine

The Supplement that Will Take You to the Next Level

Whether you are working out or training, one of the biggest challenges is the battle between what you want to be able to achieve and what your body will allow you to do. We constantly overload, overwork and overreach our bodies capabilities to cause adaptations to become better, yet we all have an enemy…….FATIGUE.

Unfortunately, both mental and physical exhaustion or fatigue is why you fail lifting the weight one last time, why you slow down or simply just can’t achieve those extra few meters. A main element of fatigue is the pain and discomfort of which you push on through to achieve certain distances, loads, or repetitions. During high intensity exercise many experience discomfort within their muscles, often described as a burning, stinging or cramping sensation which is believed to be symptoms of lactic acid which then impairs performance. However, this is a common misconception, such sensations are actually a by-product of the build-up of hydrogen ions.

Lactic acid is actually an energy source for muscles and can be rapidly broken down into lactate and hydrogen ions. Your body clears lactate and uses it for energy, During high intensity, anaerobic training lactate production exceeds the clearance rate which can be associated with fatigue but is not the main trouble maker. The breakdown of lactic acid which leaves hydrogen ions within the muscle cells builds up over time causing metabolic acidosis; where the pH of the muscle decreases into an acidic state. High concentrations of hydrogen ions within muscle tissue and the blood steam cause retardation of muscle contractions and function along with diminished nerve signalling.

Our ability to regulate the concentrations of hydrogen ions within our skeletal muscle is known as muscle buffering capacity (MBC). Research has shown there to be a positive correlation between higher MBC and exercise performance within an array of sports including; basketball, football, hockey .rowing and sprinting. Greater MBC is related to improved anaerobic threshold, greater training volume and an increase capacity towards high intensity exercise. There are two ways of increasing your MBC. The first is by regularly partaking in anaerobic, high-intensity exercise such as sprints and heavy resistance training which have greater effects upon lowering muscle pH compared to light-intensity, longer duration activities, therefore allowing for your body to build up a tolerance over time. The second is through supplementation of beta alanine, sodium bicarbonate (check out article baking soda to raise performance) and sodium citrate.

Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine is a nonessential amino acid and is the only natural occurring amino acid in the beta form. Large amount of beta-alanine can be found in the brain and within muscle tissue in particular type II, fast twitch (high output, fast fatiguing) muscle fibers. Among its roles as an antioxidant and improving muscle excitation-contraction coupling through improved efficiency of calcium handling, beta-alanine makes up roughly 10% of skeletal muscle buffering ability towards metabolic acidosis.

Beta-alanine is part of a formula which when coupled with histidine (another amino acid found within the body) leads to carnosine synthesis. Its suggested greater levels of carnosine within a muscle can buffer metabolic acidosis as the compound of carnosine contains an imidazole chemical (mildly alkaline) sustaining intracellular muscle pH within normal physiological ranges for longer. In other words, beta-alanine helps carnosine production which in turns buffers the build-up of hydrogen ions by causing muscle tissue to be more natural or alkaline. Furthermore, this will prolong the negative effects towards exercise performance from metabolic acidosis due to a more concentrated and/or higher muscle pH baseline.

Effects of beta-alanine on sports performance

The first studies of beta-alanine by Harris et al.(2006) indicted dosages between 5 and 6g a day over a period of 4 weeks increased muscle carnosine content by roughly 60% and roughly 80% after 10 weeks of chronic use. It’s believed the elevation in muscle carnosine levels through supplementation of beta-alanine directly enhances sports performance as well as improves performance via an increase in possible work capacity during training.

It seems that noticeable effects of beta-alanine supplementation occur after roughly 4 weeks of daily consumption and with greater effects for longer periods of chronic use. Although it has been shown to increase muscle carnosine levels in both trained and untrained individuals, those who are trained appear to benefit more. This may be due to higher MBC and/or levels of muscle mass. Beta-alanine is considered to be most useful to those; sustaining competitive event last 1-7 minutes such as cycling, swimming and rowing, those performing high-intensity bouts such as sprints or lifts, and those performing high-intensity efforts at the end of prolonged exercise such as a sprint near the finish line.

Dosage of Beta-alanine

Multiplies of different studies have tested an array of different dosages over various periods of time to work out the ideal quantity of beta-alanine consumption to benefit exercise performance. Dosages of 5-6g a day or 65mg/kg of body mass have been most used since Harris et al.(2006) as these dosages tend to lead to improvements in performance. Other studies which used lower dosages of 2.4g/day (Van et al. 2009) and 3.2g/day (Saunders et al. 2012) have also shown significant improvements in test measurements with beta-alanine supplementation compared to placebo subjects. It should be noted however, that both studies used subjects who had previous training experience and consumed beta-alanine for a longer period of time; 8 and 12 weeks respectively.

Research suggests that in order to achieve a significant improvement in sports performance a total of 200-300g of beta-alanine is need to be consumed before any benefits are noticeable. To reach this suggest amount it is roughly 6.4g a day for 6 weeks, a possible reason to why shorter studies with higher dosages didn’t see any change in performance outcome.

It seems once the sum of beta-alanine consumed exceeds 200g there is a positive linear correlation between daily intake and both absolute and relative muscle carnosine levels. It is fairly common that individuals who take dosages >800mg of beta-alanine experience a tingling. Prickly sensation often in the back, hands and/or face muscles called paraesthesia. Although this amount is similar to the amount you would get from consuming a single chicken it is presumed that these sensations occur as a result of rapid increase of beta-alanine in blood plasma. Paraesthesia is completely harmless and often decreases after a few days, but many reduce the likelihood of these sensations by gradually increasing their daily intake over a period of a couple of weeks, using slight increments weekly. Alternatively, splitting daily intake into more regular, lower dosages throughout the day can also reduce the effects of paraesthesia. The advantage to this method is the potential of achieve a significant different in performance faster as less time is needed to exceed a suggested total of 200g.

Regardless of the dosage method you choose, there is little to suggest particular timings of consumption are superior, with the conclusion that level of dosage and total sum of consumption over a given period of time are more important. However, studies carried out by Stegen et al.(2013) and Bex et al. (2014) have shown that co-consumption with carbohydrates improves the effects of beta-alanine by 64%. It could therefore be suggested consumption with a meal or multiple meals will optimise potential performance benefits.

Additional research has demonstrated coupling beta-alanine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation has beneficial outcomes upon swimming time trails (De Salles Painelliet al. 2015), team sport sprint times (Ducker et al. 2013) and rowing time trials (Hobson et al. 2013). It is believed that the sodium bicarbonate benefits extracellular, while beta-alanine benefits intracellular MBC. However, currently there is no research suggesting if one is superior to the other or if combining these two supplements leads to further performance gain over the use of them individually.

To Sum Up

Fatigue limits your ability to perform with the longer you exercise for the worse performance tends to become.
Many people believe lactic acid build up is the reason for experiencing symptoms of pain and discomfort while exercising.
This pain and discomfort actually occurs from a build-up of hydrogen ions within muscle tissue also known as metabolic acidosis.
Metabolic acidosis decreases the ability of muscle to contract and hinders nerve function.
You have a natural ability to buffer metabolic acidosis called muscle buffering capacity (MBC).
MBC can be improved through high-intensity anaerobic training and/or supplementation.
Supplementation of beta-alanine increases muscle carnosine content which can buffer metabolic acidosis.
Carnosine can influence muscle pH levels to be more natural or even slightly alkaline allowing for a greater levels of hydrogen ions to build up before symptoms of metabolic acidosis are experienced.
Beta-alanine has been shown to increase muscle carnosine levels by 60-80% over 4-10 weeks of daily consumption.
Those partaking in sports which are anaerobic and/or at high-intensity levels are likely to benefit the most from beta-alanine supplementation.
It’s likely to take around 4 weeks before any noticeable benefit to performance occurs.
Suggested daily dosages are around 5-6.4g or 65mg/kg BW.
Lower dosages from 1.6g have shown to increase carnosine levels.
Seems total amount consummated over a period of time needs to exceed 200-300g before benefits are noticeable.
There is a linear correlation between dosage amount and potential performance advantages.
Athletes may experience paraesthesia, especially those taking higher dosages.
Spreading the daily intake of beta-alanine through the day or gradually increasing the amount can reduce the chance of paraesthesia.
Consumption with a meal or carbohydrates seems to enhance the benefits of beta-alanine supplementation.
Possible advantages to MBC by taking beta-alanine and sodium bicarbonate.

References

Bex, T., Chung, W., Baguet, A., Stegen, S., Stautemas, J., Achten, E. and Derave, W., 2013. Muscle carnosine loading by beta-alanine supplementation is more pronounced in trained vs. untrained muscles. American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology.

de Salles Painelli, V., Roschel, H., De Jesus, F., Sale, C., Harris, R.C., Solis, M.Y., Benatti, F.B., Gualano, B., Lancha Jr, A.H. and Artioli, G.G., 2013. The ergogenic effect of beta-alanine combined with sodium bicarbonate on high-intensity swimming performance. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 38(5), pp.525-532.

Ducker, K.J., Dawson, B. and Wallman, K.E., 2013. Effect of beta-alanine supplementation on 800-m running performance. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 23(6), pp.554-561.

Harris, R.C., Tallon, M.J., Dunnett, M., Boobis, L., Coakley, J., Kim, H.J., Fallowfield, J.L., Hill, C.A., Sale, C. and Wise, J.A., 2006. The absorption of orally supplied β-alanine and its effect on muscle carnosine synthesis in human vastus lateralis. Amino acids, 30(3), pp.279-289.

Hobson, R.M., Harris, R.C., Martin, D., Smith, P., Macklin, B., Gualano, B. and Sale, C., 2013. Effect of beta-alanine with and without sodium bicarbonate on 2,000-m rowing performance. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 23(5), pp.480-487

Sanders, B., Sunderland, C., Harris, R.C. and Sale, C., 2012. β-alanine supplementation improves YoYo intermittent recovery test performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 9(1), p.39.

Stegen, S., Blancquaert, L., Everaert, I., Bex, T., Taes, Y., Calders, P., Achten, E. and Derave, W., 2013. Meal and beta-alanine coingestion enhances muscle carnosine loading. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 45(8), pp.1478-85.

Van, R.T., Van, K.P., Vanden, B.E., Puype, J., Lefere, T. and Hespel, P., 2009. Beta-alanine improves sprint performance in endurance cycling. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 41(4), pp.898-903.