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Beta Alanine and Athletic Performance

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* Disclaimer: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary. Results achieved when using the product may vary from person to person.

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Beta Alanine Benefits

The explosion of smart drug and health supplement innovations in the last ten years has been profound. Now, with many nootropic and amino acid supplements either being developed toward specific uses or isolated from their organic processes, people have access to more and more health options. As with any form of medication, there are risks due to overuse, but as long as people use these new supplements as instructed, there is no limit to the benefits they can enjoy. For those looking to aid in their muscle repair and help with the effects of aging with helpful anti-oxidants, Beta Alanine may be the supplement they have been looking for.*

 

What is Beta Alanine?

Beta Alanine is an amino acid. It is a non-essential acid that is normally produced naturally in the body when the stomach breaks down meat, fish or poultry (especially chicken breasts). The reason the body uses it is because beta alanine aids in the production of carnosine, a compound found in muscles that break down after high-intensity exercise. When muscles become fatigued, it’s because there is a build-up of acid in them. Carnosine helps regulate the production of these acids and can help alleviate muscle fatigue. The more beta alanine in your system, the more carnosine your body produces. This is how beta alanine can help boost sports performance and muscle repair.* It does this by increasing the amount of time muscles can exercise before becoming fatigued, allowing for longer workouts and making the muscles perform longer before getting tired. This allows for more muscle-buildling in the process.*

 

Effects

The effects of using beta alanine can be powerful. When used regularly, not only can athletes work out longer and build muscle faster, they can engage in certain aerobic activities longer before tiring out. This includes activities such as sprinting, power lifts and other high energy, short-duration exercises.* This helps promote not just an increase in muscle mass, but in the production of lean muscle. Beta alanine has also shown to have the effect of improving physical functioning in the elderly, since their ability to endure high-stress level exercise is hampered by their age.* This has the added benefit of lower their risk of falls. With beta alanine supplements, they can engage in normally strenuous everyday activity for longer periods of time since more carnosine is being built in their bodies. The most common result of the body producing more carnosine is an increased level of endurance and longer periods of exercise as a result. The regulation of the acid activity in muscles also allows for shorter periods of muscle repair after this strenuous activity.*

Why should I use Beta Alanine?

Because of these reactions, beta alanine should be used only by those who are either capable of high-intensity exercise of for those in need of a natural endurance boost who are not suffering any abnormal illnesses. It is not recommended for children, women who are pregnant or breast feeding.

There are also added benefits for vegetarians since they don’t consume hardly any of the natural foods, like meat and poultry, that aid in the production of carnosine. Also, beta alanine has shown to have additional benefits when combined with creatine while working out. Taking both supplements can result in additional lean muscle building as well as reduced body fat percentage.

Side Effects

There are of course side effects of taking more than the recommended dosage. The most common side effect is parathesia, which is a feeling of pins and needles in the skin. This usually subsides after an hour or so. Also, slight flushing of the skin has been show to be another side effect of not regulating dosage. Of course, you should always check where the supply of supplements you are receiving was manufactured.  But as long as you take these dose with food or divide dosages, you should experience little to no side effects of oral ingestion.

User Reviews

Of course, the most powerful endorsements come from regular consumers who have tried beta alanine. According to one respondent on Amazon.com ” Beta Alanine as a supplement has a good paper trail in the scientific literature…. I use it in concert with Creatine since the effects are synergistic. Supplement products that throw together weird mixes of various products, some solid, some questionable, and some mostly ineffective annoy me because i’d rather not pay for the fluff. Give me high-quality, tested foods and supplements (high-leucine content protein [mostly whey or animal products], Creatine Monohydrate, Beta Alanine, Fish Oil, and a few others) and give them to me in a pure form in relative bulk, cheaply – not in hype-styled containers loaded with filler.”*

Another respondent reported that ” I’ve been taking beta alanine for the last few years. Just lately it is becoming known in the bodybuilding community, I’ve been talking about it since I started taking back in 2009. It’s a solid recovery supplement, especially when stacked with creatine or something like Citrulline Malate. Especially good results with the Citrulline, Citrulline Malate 200 Grams Powder + Free Beta Alanine 200 Grams…Big pumps and strength increased, especially with shoulders and chest…it works really well.”*

Finally, according to a review on Supplementreviews.com “This product gave me a litte Boost of energy in the gym, but the main benefit was the endurance and lack of fatigue. Beta-Analine give the feel you can work out all day.I get good workouts using this product. I am in a trimming down stage and this helps tremendously in helping me maintain good workouts. I stack this with arginine and a caffine drink before I workout out for more energy. Some people say you have to load up on this stuff. I disagree. An hour after I take it, I can feel it kicking in. There are some side affects with this product. Beta Alanine gives you a flush and tingling feeling throughout your body. It’s OK to me, but my workout buddy hates the feeling. It also makes me itchy between my knees and elbows. I do not like this Sensation, but I can live with it do to the fact of the benefits I receive from this product.”*

History

Beta Alanine as an isolated supplement first came into being with the discovery of carnosine in 1900. Russian scientist Gulewitsch first identified the muscle building compound that year. He would then discover and identify its constituent amino acids, beta-alanine and histidine. These finding would be confirmed seven years later by Barger, Tutin, Baumann, Ingvaldsen. The first research on carnosine and its effects on muscle buffering were published in 1938 and included the process of beta alanine in aiding the production of carnosine. Because of the abundance of histidine in the body and the relative small amounts of beta alanine present during carnosine production, beta alanine was isolated as the supplement the most lacking in the process and most in need to external supplementation.

Dosages

Beta alanine is best taken oral, either in powder or capsule form with other health supplements. The recommended dosage is 2000-5000 mg of beta alanine daily for those who exercise regularly. The side effects of the doses can be alleviated by dividing them from two to four times a day depending on the amount to be ingested daily. In other words, the higher the amount of beta alanine you intend to consume, the more doses you should divide daily (2 doses of 1000 mg if you are at 2000 mg a day or four doses of 1000 mg spread out if you are at 4000 or more mg a day)

Research

The research shown in the effectiveness of beta alanine is suggestive but not definitive. There have been many studies, but not enough to formulate a concrete, scientific consensus among health researchers. This could be also attributed to the many variables in these studies that may have affected the outcomes of these studies. This has caused some medical review results to conflict with others. According to Web M.D.”The conflicting results might be due to the small numbers of participants in studies or the variability in doses used, duration of supplementation, variable exercise protocol, and populations studied.”* This indicates that more research is need not to observed the beneficial results, only to confirm them consistently.

Typical Prices

Prices for beta alanine depend on the amount purchased. It is mostly sold in bulk, powder form. The normal rate for 500g of beta alanine pure powder can range from 24 to 44 dollars depending of whether you buy it at a nutritional outlet store or via Amazon, with Amazon providing the most consistent value for your dollar. It is also available in capsule from 17 to 30 dollars for 750 mg of 120 capsules. For those looking to experience immediate effect and seeking the best value for amount purchased, it’s recommended that they buy it in powder form since capsule often have a time-delayed effect. This may not be the most ideal version for pre-workout ingestion.

My Personal Review

From this author’s personal experience, taking beta alanine supplements can usually take about 2 weeks to start seeing results in the form of increased overall endurance. I decided to take it in powder form. At the onset, I noticed an increase in exercise duration and less time between workouts before my muscles were no longer sore. I also supplemented it with creatine, and I started to notice more muscle mass added after 2 months. With a lean protein intensive diet, I started to notice weight loss after four months.

Short Term Effects

The short term effects were an increase in stamina, longer workouts and less healing time between them. There was some tingling initially, but when I divided up my doses accordingly, these effects subsided. After one month, I began to see some slimming down and I started noticing bigger biceps and a better tolerance for increasing my weight training regimen. I’m up to four months now and I’m curious as to what the future will bring.*

Long Term Effects

For many who have been using beta alanine as a supplement for more than a year the long term effects are easy to distinguish. Most have experienced long-term strength increases and a higher endurance and stamina ceiling.*  Long time body builders have discovered this and are now noticing an increase in beta alanine profile in their community as other have inquired about its effectiveness and are impressed with the results.

Conclusion

Many people workout and are fine with their exercise results. But many other are discouraged because they have appeared to have reached a plateau in either their individual stamina or their muscle building capability. I myself was frustrated with not being able to increase the amount of weight in my bench press sets. This supplement is meant to address this plateau and help those looking to ascend to the next level in their workout regiment to surpass it.*

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