ß-Alanine's impact on exercise and blood lactate values incurred from repetitive supramaximal activity

Abstract

BACKGROUND: s-Alanine aids exercise performance by increasing intracellular carnosine content. Added carnosine should buffer more H + produced from exercise and evoke a higher blood lactate concentration ([BLa − ]) before a person succumbs to fatigue. OBJECTIVE: With a within-subjects design, we compared the effects of placebo (maltodextrin) and s-alanine administrations on [BLa − ] and average power (AP) values derived from repetitive bouts of lower body supramaximal activity. METHODS: Over separate 30-day periods, sedentary subjects (n = 10) ingested placebo, followed by s-alanine (3 g · day −1 ), capsules. After each period, subjects performed two four-set leg press workouts. [BLa − ] values were measured before, and zero-, five-, ten, 15- and 20-minutes post-exercise. [BLa − ] data underwent a 2 × 6 ANOVA, with repeated measures per independent variable. AP values were compared with a 2 × 4 ANCOVA, with repeated measures per independent variable. RESULTS: AP and [BLa − ] results each included a two-way interaction. s-alanine elicited higher set two and four AP values versus the corresponding placebo values. [BLa − ] values at zero-minutes post-exercise were significantly higher from s-alanine,