Creatine/BetaAlanine

Creatine and Beta-Alanine

Are they really AN ULTIMATE anaerobic combination?

As a performance athlete, you want to get the most out of your training and nutrition plan. Supplementation can be highly beneficial if done correctly. By now, most of the weight lifting scene has heard of Creatine, and its performance increasing effects on muscle contraction and strength output. Many of you may have also heard about Beta-Alanine; with its effects on enhanced muscular endurance, muscle contraction, and buffering of waste products to get more out of your training. The real question is: should you aim to take both or are you selling yourself short by taking one or the other? The effects of both, Creatine and Beta-Alanine, will now be discussed in more detail.

Primer on Creatine

Muscle cells generate mechanical work from an energy liberating chemical reaction known as glycolysis. In this reaction, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is split into adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and phosphate (1). This occurs when aerobic systems are overcome and cannot provide energy for the task at hand, thus switching to the anerobic (glycolysis) pathway. Attaching another phosphate to the ADP group will yield ATP, and the muscle can do more work immediately. ADP can get this phosphate from Creatine Phosphate (CP) if available. This is where supplementation plays a key role in muscular performance. The creatine that is normally present in human muscle can come from two sources, dietary, and/or internally manufactured within the body. Creatine can be synthesized in the liver and kidneys from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine. A 70kg adult has about 120g of creatine in the muscles, and the daily turnover is about 2g. About half of this is replaced by the diet and half synthesized endogenously. The exogenous intake of creatine appears to exert negative feedback on the endogenous production of creatine (i.e., more creatine present in the diet means less production by the body)(1). Creatine is eliminated from the body by the kidneys either as creatine, or as creatinine, which is formed from the metabolism of creatine(1). Another interesting note about ATP is very little of it can actually be stored in the muscle itself, but creatine phosphate can. The more creatine phosphate stores available, ATP can be more readily available for increased muscular output.

Primer on Beta-Alanine

Beta-Alanine is the rate limiting precursor to Carnosine. Rate limiting means that without Beta-Alanine, Carnosine is not produced. The other amino acid that carnosine is made from is L-Histidine. Carnosine has many documented uses including a strong antioxidant effect, anti-aging, and healthy brain function (2). We are interested in carnosines role within the muscle. During intense muscular activity, a strong anaerobic effect is induced when aerobic pathways are too slow to provide oxygen. Glycolysis and ATP hydrolyzation must take place to provide energy for anaerobic function. This causes significant reduction of ATP, build up of lactic acids, resulting in a high tissue acidity (2). Carnosine act as an intramuscular pH balancing agent, which will allow prolonged muscular output without fatigue.

Research has shown significant carnosine concentration in skeletal muscle following supplementation of Beta-Alanine (2). What is also interesting is that carnosine levels seem to be greater in a trained muscle as opposed to an untrained muscle. (3) Therefore, already conditioned athletes will reap even greater benefits due to these increased carnosine levels.

There have been a number of scientific studies on subjects using the two supplements, creatine and beta-alanine, in combination. J. Hoffman performed a study on 33 power/strength athletes, and he reported that there were significant strength improvements and effects on lean tissue and body fat composition when the athletes supplemented both with creatine and beta-alanine (4). Another study focused on aerobic capacity, VO2 max, power output, time to exhaustion, and lactate threshold. Members of the Creatine plus Beta-Alanine supplement showed improved aerobic scores (5).

Creatine supplementation alone would help the muscle perform more work by making ATP more quickly available, but muscle buffering mechanisms might not be able to efficiently handle the extra work the muscle is doing because of subsequent hydrogen ions from anaerobic glycolysis. Remember, creatine recycles ADP to ATP very quickly. Beta-Alanine supplementation would definitely ensure proper buffering of any work performed by the muscle. It would make sense why these two compounds can both benefit each other. Creatine will create more efficient and quicker ATP production so the muscle can output more. This also means that with the increased chemical reactions of ATP, hydrogen ions will be more prevalent, and this is where the carnosine becomes important.  

Creatine helps the performance and output of the muscle, while the carnosine ensures an optimal environment for this to happen.

References

1. Mark A. Jenkins, M.D. – http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/sports/creatine.html

1. Mauro G. DiPasquale – Amino Acids and Proteins for the Athlete. P. 274-275

6. http://webanatomy.net/anatomy/muscle3_notes.htm

2. Harris et al. The absorption of orally supplied beta-alanine and its effect on muscle carnosine synthesis in human vastus lateralis. Amino Acids. 2006 May;30(3):279-89. Epub 2006 Mar 24.

3. Kendrick et al. (2007)

The effect of §-alanine supplementation on muscle carnosine synthesis during a 10 week program of strength training. Amino Acids. Volume 34, Number 4 / May, 2008

4. Hoffman et al. Effect of creatine and beta-alanine supplementation on performance and endocrine responses in strength/power athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2006 Aug;16(4):430-46.

5. Zoeller et al. Effects of creatine and beta-alanine on ventilatory and lactate thresholds in men. Amino Acids. 2006 Sep 5.