Supplement Tip - Beta alanine

Beta Alanine is a supplement that helps to delay muscle fatigue during high intensity exercise. It's most effective for events lasting 1-10 minutes so it will be incredibly useful for those competing in sports such as athletics, track cycling and swimming.

Beta-alanine works by combining with another amino acid called L-histidine to create carnosine. It acts as an intracellular proton buffer to bind to hydrogen ions as intramuscular acidity increases.

We can't just ingest more carnosine because it has low bioavailability. If we ingest carnosine directly it gets broken down into beta alanine and L-histidine before it reaches skeletal muscle.

To get an ergogenic effect from Beta-Alanine supplementation we need to load it to optimise muscle carnosine stores.

Load Beta-Alanine by taking 4-6g per day, split into doses of less than 2g, for at least 4 weeks. Then, return to maintenace dose of 1.6-6.4g/day (again... if you're going for the top end of this, make sure you split this dosage up into 2 or 3 servings throughout the day to avoid unwanted side effects)

As Beta-Alanine has a fairly long washout period, and doesn't have an acute effect, you won't lose all of the benefits of taking it if you miss one supplement day.

So if you take a bit less one day, don't stress about it.

The main side effect from Beta-Alanine is paraesthesia, or tingling, which is a feeling you might recognise from pre-workout supplements which otten contain Beta-Alanine. This is why we look to avoid taking large doses of Beta-Alanine and split the loading dose into multiple doses throughout the day.

Beyond sporting performance, Beta-Alanine may have a positive effect on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as reducing blood glucose and HbAlc in those with type 2 diabetes.