Hey guys and girls and welcome to another supplement review. If you have ever taken, currently taking or thinking of taking beta alanine as a supplement to improve sports performance, this post is for you!
So what is beta alanine? Beta alanine is a naturally occurring amino acid which is a rate limiting precursor of carnosine. In simple terms, this means the amount of carnosine present in the body is dependent on the amount of beta alanine ingested. So what’s carnosine you ask? Carnosine is a dipeptide which is highly concentrated in the brain and muscle tissue. Carnosine in muscle tissue has been observed to increase the strength of muscle contractions in high intensity exercise. From what research tells us, supplementing with beta alanine can increase levels of muscle carnosine by 40-80%. This supplementation is very similar to creatine loading but in this case with beta alanine.
After completing a brief literature review we found that beta alanine is still recognised by the AIS as a category B supplement. This means it still requires research before it is scientifically proven to be effective.
In the meantime, for those currently taking this supplement, the newest article written by Stegen et al. 2013 has found that beta alanine loading is 64% more effective with a meal than loading the supplement individually. They revealed the mechanism behind this loading is similar to creatine loading involving the hormone insulin. Therefore for those who feel this supplement is effective, try loading with a meal. For the rest of us, we will continue to wait until beta alanine is approved by the AIS as an effective supplement for sport performance. It won’t be long!
Mission Nutrition
Mission Nutrition 