The Effect of Beta-Alanine on Peak Anaerobic Power and Blood Lactate Levels

Introduction • Beta-alanine is an increasingly popular dietary supplement that sometimes is promoted as a performance enhancer (7). • Oral supplementation with the amino acid beta-alanine increases muscle content of the dipeptide carnosine (beta-alanyl-L-histidine) and has positive effects on some short high-intensity exercise tasks (4). • Consumption of various individual ingredients often included in proprietary pre- workout blends are known to effectively increase time to fatigue, allowing for an increased training volume (12). • Carnosine acts as an intracellular buffer during high-intensity exercise, and elevations in muscle carnosine concentration have been demonstrated to enhance cycling capacity, ventilatory threshold, and delay fatigue (9).