PowerBar® Beta Alanine tablets are promoted as a high-intensity, sustained release beta alanine supplement. According to the manufacturers, this “dietary supplement provides an even supply of beta-alanine to your muscles.”
Beta-alanine has been studied in some human trials and is known to increase intramuscular levels of a dipeptide called carnosine. Carnosine is important to people who want to improve their athletic performance, stamina and energy levels.
Carnosine helps buffer hydrogen ions that accumulate in muscles due to strenuous exertion. Using a beta alanine supplement is popular among endurance, strength and team athletes for both training and competitive performance.
PowerBar® Beta Alanine provides 800 mg per tablet, with a recommended serving size of two tablets. This supplement is also NSF Certified for Spot, meaning it is free of contaminants and banned ingredients for competitive athletes.
Body- building
Pre- Workout
Stamina- Supports muscle growth & workout performance
- Improves athletic stamina & power output
- Increases muscle carnosine levels
PowerBar® Beta Alanine Review
Related Topics
There have not been any published clinical studies specifically exploring PowerBar® Beta Alanine supplements. However, numerous studies have been completed on beta-alanine.
BA is an amino acid that is more formally called 3-aminopropanoic acid. BA is not proteinaceous; meaning it is not used in the body to produce major enzymes or proteins.
It is biosynthesized in humans when dihydrouracil is degraded into carnosine. Beta-alanine is a constituent of carnosine, anserine and vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid).
Dipeptides are substances made up of two or more amino acids. Carnosine is a dipeptide formed when beta-alanine and histidine are bonded together. Research shows that beta-alanine, not histidine, is the rate-limited precursor of carnosine.
Does Beta-Alanine Improve Athletic Performance?
By increasing carnosine in the muscles, Powerbar Beta Alanine supplements may help to facilitate certain physical performance-based benefits. The following effects have been noted in human studies:
- Increased total number of repetitions in exercise sets;
- Increased bench press training volume;
- Increased threshold for fatigue onset;
- Increased TTE (time to exhaustion);
- Increased ventilatory threshold;
- Increased sprint power output;
A 2014 review of beta alanine literature from 19 randomized human trials concluded that this supplement may increase work capacity and power output. It also stated that BA can likely decrease fatigue and exhaustion.
Finally, it concluded that beta-alanine may have a positive effect on body composition.
Top Beta Alaninine Supplements
Sustained Release Beta Alanine Tablets
One of the more popular BA products from Powerbar is Sustained Release Beta Alanine Tablets.
The manufacturer (Premier Nutrition Corporation) states that this supplement “provides an even supply of beta-alanine to your muscles”. It is designed for team-based, strength and endurance athletes and formulated to enhance high-intensity training.
Beta-alanine requires a loading phase in order to effectively upregulate muscle carnosine levels. According to the manufacturer, this product will take between 2 and 4 weeks to begin producing noticeable results.
Users are advised to take 2 tablets twice each day for the first 2 weeks of use. After that, 2 tablets should be taken only once daily.
Each 2-tablet serving of PowerBar® Sustained Release Beta Alanine contains 1600 mg of beta-alanine. Each serving also contains 10 calories.
- Supports muscle growth and workout performance
- Improve athletic stamina and power output
- Better bio-availability than L-Carnosine
Beta Alanine Safety and Side Effects
According to the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, beta-alanine supplement are possibly safe for appropriate, short-term oral usage. In younger adults, doses as high as 6.4 grams daily have been used without causing adverse effects for as long as 10 weeks.
In people over fifty-five years of age, 2.4-gram daily BA doses have been used with apparent safety for as long as 90 days.
Safety reviews for products like PowerBar® Beta Alanine report that, in many cases, athletes fail to report adverse effects caused by usage.
The only adverse effects commonly associated with BA usage is called transient paresthesia. Transient (temporary) paresthesia is a condition in which the skin tingles, itches, burns and crawls.
This is different from permanent paresthesia, which can result from traumatic events which cause nerve damage. The paresthesia caused by using beta-alanine goes away on its own after an hour or two in most cases.
PowerBar® Beta Alanine user reviews commonly report paresthesia. Many users state that they count on the skin tingling because it gives them a psychological boost; making them feel that the product is active at work in their systems.
To date, there are no reported interactions between beta-alanine supplements and diseases, drugs, foods, herbs or other supplements.
However, little research has been completed in this area and users are advised to carefully self-monitor for the development of adverse effects and/or interactions.
Conclusions
Clinical reviews of supplements like PowerBar® Beta Alanine suggests that they can enhance athletic performance in certain conditions, primarily by increasing endurance.
Research shows that BA is likely to improve performance during high-intensity exercise sessions, strength training, weightlifting and other activities which may cause high degrees of fatigue and muscular acidosis. Recent research has concluded that these effects apply almost equally in both untrained and trained athletes.
Some research indicates that the highest levels of benefit from BA occur between 1 and 4 minutes after administration. It is not yet understood if beta-alanine benefits are dose-dependent. Always closely follow dosing instructions of supplements you may use.
If you are considering using PowerBar® Beta Alanine products, then it is best to seek medical advice first. Talk to your doctor and make sure that BA is safe for you.
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