The use of beta-alanine as a sports supplement is growing, including in football. But what does it do?
Beta-alanine increases intramuscular carnosine stores. This improves the muscle's buffering capacity and may delay fatigue during repeated high-intensity efforts.
According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand, 4-6g/day of beta-alanine for at least 2-4 weeks is needed to increase carnosine stores.
Possible side effects include skin flushing, which would require very high doses, and paresthesia—a tingling sensation that resolves when the dose is reduced. Because total intake is 4-6g/day, dividing it into several 1,5-2g doses can reduce this effect. The drawback is having to remember several doses each day.
Which sports may benefit? Recent meta-analyses, including Hobson et al. (2012), concluded that beta-alanine is effective for high-intensity sports lasting 1-6 minutes, such as athletics, cycling, rowing and swimming.
Football is an intermittent high-intensity sport involving repeated sprints and short maximal actions, making the supplement potentially useful for football performance.
Research suggests that the performance benefits in team sports such as football may arise from a greater tolerable training volume, enabling more overload and adaptation. This could help players preserve their ability to perform maximal-intensity efforts late in a match, when those actions may determine the result.
Female football players may also benefit. Rosas F. et al. (2017) concluded that beta-alanine during plyometric training may enhance adaptations in jumping ability, repeated sprints and endurance. Another study (Rodriguez et al., 2015) found improvements in mean and peak power even during consecutive sprints designed to reproduce match play.
In summary, after 3-4 weeks at the doses described above (4-6g/day), supplementation at >1.2g/day as a maintenance dose may keep carnosine stores above baseline.
Finally, taking beta-alanine with other supplements such as creatinedoes not further improve sports performance, although body-composition improvements have been observed. Combining it with bicarbonate improved exercise to exhaustion, which may be less relevant to football.
In my view, beta-alanine is useful during specific phases of the season, providing an extra benefit when match load or importance is high. The start of the season, the period before the Christmas break and the end of the season are 3 suitable times to maximize carnosine stores. Nutrition education is essential to prevent athletes abandoning the protocol because several daily doses are inconvenient. Capsules make it easier to take beta-alanine between meals without weighing and measuring every dose.
Even so, much more research on beta-alanine in football is needed.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bellinger PM. β-Alanine supplementation for athletic performance: an update. J Strength Cond Res. 2014 Jun;28(6):1751-70
- Hobson RM, Saunders B., et al. Effects of β-alanine supplementation on exercise performance: a meta-analysis. Amino Acids. 2012 Jul;43(1):25-37
- Morton, JP. Supplements for consideration in football. Sports science exchange (2014) vol. 27, no. 130, 1-8
- Oliveira CC, Ferrerira D., et al. Nutrition and Supplementation in Soccer. Sports (Basel). 2017 May 12;5 (2)
- Rodríguez RF, Delgado OA., et al. Efectos de la suplementación con ß-alanina en tests de Wingate en jugadoras universitarias de fútbol femenino. Nutr Hosp. 2015;31(1):430-435ISSN 0212-1611
- Rosas F, Ramírez-Campillo R., et al. Effects of Plyometric Training and Beta-Alanine Supplementation on Maximal-Intensity Exercise and Endurance in Female Soccer Players. J Hum Kinet. 2017 Aug 1;58:99-109.
AUTHOR:
Fernando García Oliveri
Sports dietitian-nutritionist for Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol S.A.D.
