Beta-Alanine

Beta-alanine improves athletic performance. It can reduce fatigue, increase endurance and boost performance in high-intensity exercises.

Increases Time to Exhaustion

Studies have shown that beta-alanine helps increase the time to exhaustion (TTE).

In other words, it helps you exercise for longer periods at a time (3, 8, 12). A study of cyclists found that 4 weeks of supplements increased total work completed by 13%. It increased by an additional 3.2% after 10 weeks (5).

Similarly, 20 male subjects on a comparable cycling test increased their time to exhaustion by 13–14% after 4 weeks of beta-alanine supplements (13).

Benefits Shorter-Duration Exercises

In general, muscle acidosis limits the duration of high-intensity exercise.

For this reason, beta-alanine specifically helps performance during high-intensity and short-duration exercise lasting one to several minutes.

One study showed that 6 weeks of beta-alanine increased time to exhaustion from 1,168 to 1,387 seconds during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) (14).

Another study found that 18 rowers who supplemented for 7 weeks were 4.3 seconds faster than the placebo group in a 2,000-meter race lasting over 6 minutes (15).

Other Benefits

Beta-alanine can also delay fatigue by increasing ventilation rate by 13.9% (16, 17).

For older people, it can help increase muscle endurance (18).

In resistance training, it can boost training volume and reduce fatigue. However, there’s no consistent evidence that beta-alanine improves strength (19, 20, 21, 22).

BOTTOM LINE:Beta-alanine is most effective in exercises lasting one to several minutes. It can help reduce fatigue, while increasing exercise capacity and muscle endurance.

Some evidence suggests that beta-alanine may benefit body composition.

One study showed that supplementing for 3 weeks increased lean muscle mass (17).

Similarly, supplementing for 4 weeks helped 32 females reduce their body weight and body fat while also increasing lean muscle mass (23).

It’s possible that beta-alanine improves body composition by increasing training volume and promoting muscle growth.

However, some studies showed no significant differences in body composition and body weight after treatment (22, 24).

BOTTOM LINE:Beta-alanine can help increase exercise volume. This could lead to increases in lean body mass and reductions in body fat, although the evidence is mixed.

Beta-alanine increases carnosine levels, which may have several health benefits.

Interestingly, animal and test-tube studies show that carnosine has antioxidant, anti-aging and immune-enhancing properties. However, humans studies are needed.

The antioxidant benefits of carnosine include neutralizing free radicals and reducing oxidative stress (25, 26, 27).

Carnosine also prevents changes in the structure and function of proteins in the body. This may give it some anti-aging properties (28).

Moreover, carnosine seems to elevate nitric oxide production. This may help against the aging process and improve immune function (29, 30).

Lastly, carnosine increases the quality and function of muscles in the elderly (18, 31).

Sourced: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/beta-alanine-101#section10