Short-duration β-alanine supplementation increases training volume and reduces subjective feelings of fatigue in college football players Jay R. Hoffman a, ⁎ , Nicholas A. Ratamess a , Avery D. Faigenbaum a , Ryan Ross a , Jie Kang a , Jeffrey R. Stout b , John A. Wise c a Department of Health and Exercise Science, The College of New Jersey, PO Box 7718, Ewing, NJ 08628, USA b Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019-6081, USA c Natural Alternatives International, San Marcos, CA 92069, USA Received 8 August 2007; revised 16 November 2007; accepted 16 November 2007 Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 30 days of β-alanine supplementation in collegiate football players on anaerobic performance measures. Subjects were randomly divided into a supplement (β-alanine group [BA], 4.5 g·d -1 of β-alanine) or placebo (placebo group [P], 4.5 g·d -1 of maltodextrin) group. Supplementation began 3 weeks before preseason football training camp and continued for an additional 9 days during camp. Performance measures included a 60-second Wingate anaerobic power test and 3 line drills (200-yd shuttle runs with a 2-minute rest between sprints) assessed on day 1 of training camp. Training logs recorded resistance training volumes, and subjects completed questionnaires on subjective feelings of soreness, fatigue, and practice intensity. No difference was seen in fatigue rate in the line drill, but a trend (P = .07) was observed for a lower fatigue rate for BA compared with P during the Wingate anaerobic power test. A significantly higher training volume was seen for BA in the bench press exercise, and a trend (P = .09) for a greater training volume was seen for all resistance exercise sessions. In addition, subjective feelings of fatigue were significantly lower for BA than P. In conclusion, despite a trend toward lower fatigue rates during 60 seconds of maximal exercise, 3 weeks of β-alanine supplementation did not result in significant improvements in fatigue rates during high-intensity anaerobic exercise. However, higher training volumes and lower subjective feelings of fatigue in BA indicated that as duration of supplementation continued, the efficacy of β-alanine supplementation in highly trained athletes became apparent. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Nutritional supplementation; Strength/power athletes; Ergogenic aids; Carnosine; Resistance exercise; Humans 1. Introduction Carnosine is a histidine dipeptide that is synthesized in human skeletal muscle and has been shown to enhance muscle buffering capacity during high-intensity exercise [1,2]. It is synthesized within skeletal muscle from histidine and β-alanine. Whereas histidine, a nonessential amino acid, is found in high concentrations along with carnosine synthetase in skeletal muscle [3,4], β-alanine, an amino acid derivative, is found in much lower concentrations and is likely the rate-limiting step in carnosine synthesis [3,5,6]. Oral ingestion of β-alanine has been shown to be effective in increasing carnosine concentrations within muscle [3,7,8] and subsequently may provide a significant ergogenic benefit for athletes participating in high-intensity exercise by reducing the rate of fatigue in muscle. Several studies have examined the efficacy of β-alanine supplementation on high-intensity exercise performance. Stout and colleagues [9] demonstrated that 3.2 g·d -1 of Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Nutrition Research 28 (2008) 31 – 35 www.elsevier.com/locate/nutres ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 609 771 2287; fax: +1 609 637 5153. E-mail address: hoffmanj@tcnj.edu (J.R. Hoffman). 0271-5317/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2007.11.004