The effect of β‐alanine supplementation on cycling time trials of different length

Abstract

The varying results reported in response to β-alanine supplementation may be related to the duration and nature of the exercise protocol employed. We investigated the effects of β-alanine supplementation on a wide range of cycling performance tests in order to produce a clear concise set of criteria for its efficacy. Fourteen trained cyclists (Age = 24.8 ± 6.7 years; VO2max = 65.4 ± 10.2 mL·kg·min(-1)) participated in this placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Prior to supplementation, subjects completed two (familiarization and baseline) supramaximal cycling bouts until exhaustion (120% pre-supplementation VO2max) and two 1-, 4- and 10-km cycling time trial (TT). Subjects then supplemented orally for 4 weeks with 6.4 g/d placebo or β-alanine and repeated the battery of performance tests. Blood lactate was measured pre-exercise, post-exercise and 5 min post-exercise. β-alanine supplementation elicited significant increases in time to exhaustion (TTE) (17.6 ± 11.5 s; p = 0.013, effect compared with placebo) and was likely to be beneficial to 4-km TT performance time (-7.8 ± 8.1 s; 94% likelihood), despite not being statistically different (p = 0.060). Performance times in the 1- and 10-km TT were not affected by treatment. For the highly trained cyclists in the current study, β-alanine supplementation significantly extended supramaximal cycling TTE and may have provided a worthwhile improvement to 4-km TT performance. However, 1- and 10-km cycling TT performance appears to be unaffected by β-alanine supplementation.

Caffeine and Bicarbonate for Speed. A Meta-Analysis of Legal Supplements Potential for Improving Intense Endurance Exercise Performance

“…VO 2 -max as an objective measure of training status was reported in two of the studies (Howe et al, 2013; Bellinger and Minahan, 2016). The proportion of female subjects could not be precisely determined due to incomplete reporting of groups in one study (Painelli Vde et al, 2013) but amounted to ~8%.…”

“…The proportion of female subjects could not be precisely determined due to incomplete reporting of groups in one study (Painelli Vde et al, 2013) but amounted to ~8%. Two studies included several interventions with different performance tests (Painelli Vde et al, 2013; Bellinger and Minahan, 2016). Thus, 11 performance tests were included in the meta-analysis (Figure 3).…”

“…The paresthethic effect of beta alanine occurring in 0% (Derave et al, 2007; Hobson et al, 2013), ~15% (Bellinger and Minahan, 2016), ~25% (Howe et al, 2013), or ~50 % of participants (Painelli Vde et al, 2013) in the included studies can be speculated to cause a placebo-effect. Still, performance gains around 1% as observed in many of the individual studies (Figures 3, 7) is considered relevant to explore for high performance intense endurance athletes (Table 1) irrespective of the mechanism(s).…”

Ayudas ergogénicas en el deporte

“…Hasta el momento, las conclusiones tras el uso de la β-alanina son muy variadas debido a que los estudios han sido muy dispares, utilizando test muy diferentes (48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)(56)(57). En general, en ejercicios repetidos de alta intensidad se observa una mejora del trabajo total y de la potencia media (53) o de la marca conseguida en la prueba (54,55).…”

“…Además, se ha observado que si los periodos de recuperación entre sprints son más cortos (menores de 30 segundos), el efecto de la suplementación es significativamente mayor, por una mayor acumulación de H +43 , que si los periodos de recuperación duran varios minutos (56). Sin embargo, parece que no se encuentran resultados positivos en test realizados con un ejercicio continuo llevados hasta el agotamiento (44,50), o de larga duración (57).…”