What is Beta-Alanine and where do we get it?
Beta-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid and is the only naturally occurring beta-amino acid. Not to be confused with regular alanine, beta- alanine is classified as a non-proteinogenic amino acid, as it is not believed to be used in the building of proteins.
The greatest natural dietary sources of beta-alanine are believed to be obtained through ingesting the beta-alanine containing dipeptides: carnosine, anserine and balenine, rather than directly ingesting beta-alanine. These dipeptides are found in protein rich foods such as chicken, beef, pork and fish. It is predominantly through ingesting the dipeptide carnosine that we ingest most of our beta-alanine, as the two other dipeptides are not found nearly as plentiful in our typical coniferous diet. However, obtaining beta-alanine through these dipeptides is not the only way, as our bodies can synthesize it in the liver from the catabolism of pyrimidine nucleotides which are broken down into uracil and thymine and then metabolized into beta-alanine and B-aminoisobutyrate. Of course, it can also be ingested through direct supplementation which is the focus of this article.
Below is a list of the benefits from beta-alanine, supported by peer-reviewed university research, published in reputable science journals.
Benefits of Beta-Alanine as supported by scientific studies:
- Increase Muscular Strength & Power Output.
- Increases Muscle Mass
- Increase Anaerobic Endurance
- Increases Aerobic Endurance
- Delay Muscular Fatigue- Train Harder & Longer
1. Weight lifters & Bodybuilders
2. High Intensity Cross Trained Athletes, Military Personal
3. MMA Fighters and sport specific training that require both strength and endurance.
4. Runners, Cyclists, soccer players, hockey players
5. Active individuals who have reached a training plateau and are looking for something to take them to the next level.
6. Men and women
What causes our muscles to lose strength,power and endurance during intense exercise?
When we exercise, especially when it’s high
intensity exercise, our bodies accumulate a large amount of hydrogen
ions (H+), causing our muscles pH to drop (become more acidic). This process is occurring whether you feel a burn or not.
The breakdown of ATP and the subsequent rise in
H+ concentrations occur in all of our energy systems but H+ buildup is
most prevalent in an energy system called glycolysis, which also
produces lactic acid. At physiological pH, lactic acid dissociates H+
and is the primary source of released H+ ions during exercise, causing
pH to drop. It is the released H+ from lactic acid that causes muscular
performance problems, not the leftover lactate ions as many incorrectly
believe. While lactic acid is the primary source of released H+, it is
not the only source. H+ ions are also being released at a rapid rate
when you break down the high energy compound ATP during exercise. With
the presence of many sources during energy production releasing H+, pH
drops quickly.
As our muscles pH quickly drops, so does their ability
to contract forcibly and maintain a high level of performance
throughout your workout session. Not being able to perform and maintain
forceful muscular contractions and push your body to the limit during
your workout session, seriously hampers your ability to maximally
overload your muscles and force new muscle gains.
In a nutshell, H+ causes your muscles pH to
drop, in tern decreasing your strength and causing you to fatigue
faster. These limitations stop you from adequately overloading your
muscles and forcing NEW muscle gains
So how can beta-alanine help us overcome this drop in pH that limits exercise performance?
To understand how beta-alanine works to fight the
drop in pH within our muscle, you must first understand how carnosine
works. The reason being is, beta-alanine’s performance benefits are not
direct but realized through its ability to boost the synthesis of carnosine.
The Russian scientist Gulewitsch was the first
to identify carnosine in 1900. Eleven years later, he would discover and
identify its constituent amino acids, beta-alanine and histidine. Seven
years later, Barger and Tutin and Baumann and Ingvaldsen confirmed
Gulewitsch’s findings. However, it wasn’t until 1938 that the first
research on carnosine and its effects on muscle buffering were
published.
Carnosine is a naturally occurring di-peptide that
is found in both type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers, but is in
significantly higher concentrations in type 2 fibers. Type 2 muscle
fibers are primarily used in high intensity strength workouts and are
most responsive to muscular growth.
There are a handful of ways
carnosine is thought to impact performance but its most studied
function, and the focus of this article, is its role as an intracellular
buffer. Carnosine helps stabilize muscular pH by soaking up hydrogen
ions (H+) that are released at an accelerated rate during exercise.
Our bodies work to keep our pH in balance by
utilizing various buffering systems. Buffers largely work by soaking up
H+ to maintain optimal pH balance, which we need to function most
effectively. As mentioned above, our muscles function best in a specific
pH range. When pH drops below that range, so does muscular performance.
By helping to keep us in a more optimal pH range, our muscles can
continue to contract forcibly for a longer time.
There are a handful of buffering systems that work
in our bodies. Some maintain pH in extra cellular fluids (ECF) outside
of the cell, while others perform their duties in intracellular fluids
(ICF) inside the cell and some perform in both. Our focus in this
article is on exercise performance and, as mentioned above, the primary
source of H+ released during exercise is from lactic acid and ATP
breakdown. Take a guess where this breakdown and release of H+ is
occurring? If you guessed inside our muscles or intracellular, you
would be correct. As a result, the first line of defense in absorbing
the H+ is going to be the cell from intracellular buffers such as
carnosine, not from extra cellular buffers.
Aside from carnosine being just where we need it,
buffering H+ inside our cells, it has additional, unique attributes that
make it really shine. Carnosine is unique; in that, other natural
buffering systems our bodies use are also used in many other cellular
reactions aside from buffering, watering down much of their buffering
abilities. However, what makes carnosine really exciting, is that by
supplementing with extra beta-alanine, we can specifically and
dramatically increase carnosine levels. How much, you ask?
Researchers have shown that when supplementing with
beta-alanine for just 4 weeks, we can increase our carnosine
concentration by 42-65%. Longer beta-alanine studies going up to 10-12
weeks, show carnosine concentrations increased up to 80%. This is a
tremendous increase in an already powerful intracellular buffer. It is
this large increase in buffering capacity within our muscles that is
largely responsible for the strength, lean body mass, power and muscular
endurance gains that researchers are seeing from beta-alanine studies.
Section summary:
By boosting carnosine concentrations, with
beta-alanine, our type 2 muscle fibers can soak up more H+ and stay in
an optimal pH range. By keeping our type 2 muscle fibers in an optimal
pH range, they are better able to maintain maximal strength and
endurance throughout your workout session and bring on new muscle gains
Frequently asked questions
Is beta-alanine safe?
While this is not a frequently asked question, it
should be. We understand many people care most about gaining muscle,
looking great and performing at their best. But safety should not be
overlooked. We believe it should actually be the first question asked
when considering a new supplement, even before you question efficacy.
The answer to the safety question is a resounding
YES. Studies, going up to 12 weeks of continued beta-alanine use, have
looked at a large array of blood biochemical, hematological and hormonal
markers and no negative changes have occurred whatsoever. While it is
impossible to say beta-alanine is one hundred percent safe until longer
term studies are complete, we do know that up to 12 weeks of continued
beta-alanine supplementation is indeed safe.
Why not just take carnosine instead of beta-alanine?
When you ingest carnosine intact, most of it is
broken down in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract into its constituent
amino acids, beta-alanine and histidine. Some intact carnosine does
escape the GI tract freely but even that amount is quickly broken down
in our blood by the enzyme carnosinase. In a very short time, all the
carnosine you just ingested is either eliminated or broken down into
beta-alanine and histidine. These two amino acids are then taken into
the muscle, where they are converted back into carnosine with the help
of the enzyme carnosine synthetase.
Unfortunately, only about 40% of the carnosine you
take actually contains beta-alanine, making it an inefficient source at
best. You are better off, from both efficiency and a financial
standpoint, taking beta-alanine directly. You would have to take
substantially more carnosine just to approach the increased
concentrations of carnosine
achieved by taking the scientifically recommended dose of beta-alanine.
Clearly, taking beta-alanine is the superior solution to increasing
carnosine levels.
Shouldn’t I take extra histidine along with beta-alanine since histidine is a component of carnosine?
No, as histidine is already present in high
concentrations in muscle, while beta-alanine is only present only in
small amounts. Researchers have determined that it is beta-alanine that
drives carnosine synthesis, not histidine. Since this has been proven
repeatedly in research, there is no need to supplement with extra
histidine to increase carnosine levels. There are potentially some
select populations like vegans, vegetarians or the elderly that may not
get enough histidine in their diets and are thus deficient, which may
compromise optimal carnosine levels. But, we still don’t recommend
taking just extra histidine with beta-alanine. Instead, we recommend
these groups and simply bump up their total protein intake which will in
turn solve their possible histidine deficiency. For the majority of
healthy people, only beta-alanine is needed as histidine deficiency is
rare and no extra supplementation is needed to increase carnosine
concentrations.
Research has shown that you can take an amount between 3.2 grams and 6.4 grams per day to significantly boost carnosine levels and improve performance. The most recent research, now using 4-5 grams a day, is showing comparable carnosine concentration and performance improvements to those using 6.4 g daily. Based off the current research, we suggest 4 grams of beta-alanine a day, with an optional 2 week loading phase of 6 grams a day during the first month of use.
How long will it take to start noticing benefits?
Performance benefits typically occur in as little as two weeks, although some individuals will notice benefits within one week. As carnosine levels increase, the benefits will follow. The most dramatic results are generally experienced within the 3-4 week range but they don’t stop there. Recent research is now showing carnosine levels continue to increase for a minimum of 12 weeks which is why we recommend staying on Beta-Alanine for at least three months to optimize your carnosine levels.
Immediate benefits: Many users experience intense vasodilatation/pumps from the very first dose of Beta-Alanine. Because Beta-Alanine increases carnosine and carnosine is a powerful precursor in generating nitric oxide synthase (a group of enzymes necessary for making the powerful vasodilator nitric oxide), this is an added, immediate benefit of Beta-Alanine.
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