In recent years, the use of B-alanine as an ergogenic aid in sports has become popular. Many studies show the positive effects of its supplementation in sprint and middle-distance events. But… what happens in long-distance events?
It has been shown that daily supplementation of B-alanine over a period of 23 to 28 days increases muscle carnosine concentration (Saunders et al., 2016). Carnosine, during exercise, acts as a buffer element regulating the intracellular acid-base balance. During exercise, through the reactions to produce energy, hydrogen ions (H+) are produced. As exercise intensity increases, the amount of H+ produced increases, so the functionality of our buffer systems to regulate this acidity becomes more important, since the accumulation of H+ is one of the causes of fatigue during exercise.
Having understood this, we can state that at high exercise intensities, where the accumulation of H+ increases exponentially, the concentration of buffer elements is going to be of great importance to delay the onset of fatigue by improving acid-base regulation. Therefore, the increase of muscle carnosine is going to allow this better regulation to be improved.
Currently, numerous studies show, for the reasons explained above, an increase in sports performance in tests lasting 30 seconds up to 10 minutes through the supplementation of B-alanine (Saunders et al., 2016). On the other hand, few studies have analyzed the effects on longer durations.
The study by Santana et al. (2018) shows positive results in a 10 km running test, in amateur runners with a performance between 55 and 65 minutes. For the study, 16 male runners were selected, with at least 6 months of running experience, who performed at least 2 or 3 training sessions per week and whose personal best time was within the aforementioned values. These 16 runners were divided into two groups of 8: one group took a placebo and the other group took beta-alanine.
The study lasted 23 days during which, the runners in the B-alanine group were given 5g of B-alanine divided into three doses throughout the day. During this time, both groups performed the same training 3 days a week. One day they ran 7km, another day they did 6 sets of 500m at full speed resting 2 minutes, and on the third day they ran 12km.
At the end of 23 days, while the placebo group did not change its performance in 10k despite undergoing the same training, the beta-alanine group statistically improved its times (3441+-326,7 vs 3209+-270,5 seconds) around 4 minutes. Additionally, the beta-alanine group also decreased blood lactate concentration at the end of the 10 km (8,45+-1,94 vs 6,95+-2,44 mmol/L).
Although more studies are needed with different performance levels, we can conclude that supplementation with B-alanine can also improve performance in endurance tests lasting around 1 hour. In addition, endurance athletes, as shown by other studies, may see an increase in their performance when making a change of pace during the test or during the last kilometers of the test where the intensity may increase, since the improvement in performance in maximal efforts lasting 30 seconds to 10 minutes is well established.
Bibliography:
- Santana et al. (2018). Beta-alanine supplementation improved 10-km running time trial in physically active adults. Front Physiol, 9:1-6
- Saunders et al. (2016). B-alanine supplementation to improve exercise capacity and performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med, 51:658-669
Author:
Víctor Valldecabres. Degree in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences. Master in High Performance Sports
www.optimasportpf.es
