MORE EVIDENCE FOR BETA-ALANINE AS A PERFORMANCE ENHANCER
A series of studies have recently been published on the benefits of beta-alanine supplementation for athletes. The most recent is a study out of the United Kingdom published in the journal Amino Acids. The study looked at a group of healthy men who were supplemented with beta-alanine for 4 wks and 10 wks at doses ranging from 4.0 to 6.4 g/day. Muscle biopsies were taken from the leg to measure the accumulation of muscle carnosine, and a performance test done before and after supplementation to determine the effects on work and power during high intensity exercise. Beta-alanine supplementation increased muscle carnosine levels after 4 weeks, and by 10 weeks carnosine levels were almost 2-fold higher than baseline. It was shown that this increase occurred in both slow twitch and fast twitch muscle fibers. Further, beta-alanine supplementation also resulted in a significant increase in exercise performance. These findings provide novel data on the ability of beta-alanine supplementation to improve carnosine accumulation and cellular buffering in muscle, which in turn is linked to improved exercise work capacity.

Hill CA, Harris RC, Kim HJ, Harris BD, Sale C, Boobis LH, Kim CK, Wise JA. Influence of beta-alanine supplementation on skeletal muscle carnosine concentrations and high intensity cycling capacity. Amino Acids. 2006 Jul 28; [Epub ahead of print]