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What Is Beta Alanine And How Does It Improve My Athletic Performance? |
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What Is Beta Alanine And How Does It Improve My Athletic Performance?
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Darrell Miller | 01/16/14 |
Date:
January 16, 2014 05:32 AM
Author: Darrell Miller
(dm@vitanetonline.com)
Subject: What Is Beta Alanine And How Does It Improve My Athletic Performance?
Beta alanine
Beta-alanine is classified under non-essential amino acid; which imply that the body is able to produce.
Amino Acid
Amino acids are the building components of proteins. Beta-alanine is a precursor to the compound carnosine; which, functions by regulating the acidic environment resulting from active muscles. In a case where the cellular environment inside the muscle becomes too acidic, then the muscle ceases to function. To prevent this carnosine slows down or attenuates the development of an acidic environment allowing an athlete to perform better or exercise with more work load.
What is Carnosine
Carnosine is very effective at controlling the hydrogen ions that cause then negative effects of lactic acid. Carnosine is understood to be one of the main muscle buffering substances contained in skeletal muscle. Therefore when carnosine prevents the arising of an acidic environment which characterizes a high-intensity exercise, the athlete is able to exercise at high intensities for a longer period.
When carnosine is ingested directly through the mouth it is rapidly converted into beta-alanine and histidine by the enzyme carnosinase as soon as it enters the blood stream. It is thus ineffective when carnosine is ingested directly. However,separate ingestion of beta-alanine and histidine results in these two compounds re-conversion to carnosine after absorption into the skeletal muscle.
Beta-alanine has great benefit in improving athletic performance and exercise intensity, and the building of lean muscle mass.
Research indicates that beta-alanine is the amino acid that highly affects intramuscular carnosine amount as it is the rate-regulating substrate in this chemical reaction (Dunnett and Harris 1999).
Recommended Use for Beta Alanine
It is highly recommended that beta-alanine be taken in daily dosages in order to be highly effective, with dosage amounts varying from different expert opinions as well as dependant on the athlete preference.
Studies have indicated that 28 days dosage of 4 to 6 g/day of beta-alanine supplementation resulted in an approximately 60% improvement of intramuscular rates (Harris et al. 2005; Zoeller et al. 2007)
References:
- //www.humankinetics.com
- //www.nutritionexpress.com
