β-alanine supplementation improves tactical performance but not cognitive function in combat soldiers

Abstract

Background

There are no known studies that have examined β-alanine supplementation in military personnel. Considering the physiological and potential neurological effects that have been reported during sustained military operations, it appears that β-alanine supplementation may have a potential benefit in maintaining physical and cognitive performance during high-intensity military activity under stressful conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 28 days of β-alanine ingestion in military personnel while fatigued on physical and cognitive performance.

Methods

Twenty soldiers (20.1 ± 0.9 years) from an elite combat unit were randomly assigned to either a β-alanine (BA) or placebo (PL) group. Soldiers were involved in advanced military training, including combat skill development, navigational training, self-defense/hand-to-hand combat and conditioning. All participants performed a 4-km run, 5-countermovement jumps using a linear position transducer, 120-m sprint, a 10-shot shooting protocol with assault rifle, including overcoming a misfire, and a 2-min serial subtraction test to assess cognitive function before (Pre) and after (Post) 28 days of supplementation.

Results

The training routine resulted in significant increases in 4-km run time for both groups, but no between group differences were seen (p = 0.597). Peak jump power at Post was greater for BA than PL (p = 0.034), while mean jump power for BA at Post was 10.2% greater (p = 0.139) than PL. BA had a significantly greater (p = 0.012) number of shots on target at Post (8.2 ± 1.0) than PL (6.5 ± 2.1), and their target engagement speed at Post was also significantly faster (p = 0.039). No difference in serial subtraction performance was seen between the groups (p = 0.844).

Conclusion

Results of this study indicate that 4-weeks of β-alanine ingestion in young, healthy soldiers did not impact cognitive performance, but did enhance power performance, marksmanship and target engagement speed from pre-ingestion levels.

Keywords:

• Military performance
• Marksmanship
• Power
• Physical performance
• Supplements

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1550-2783-11-15) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1550-2783-11-15) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Natural Alternatives International (San Marcos, CA, USA) for providing support for this study.

Competing interests

All authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

JRH, GL and IO were the primary investigators, supervised all study recruitment and data analysis. JRH, GL, MD, JRS, YBM, GH and IO assisted in the design of the study, JRH and JRS performed the statistical analysis, JRH supervised the manuscript preparation, JRS, JRH, DSM, and IO helped draft the manuscript. JRH, GL, DSM, NS, MWH, WPM and IO assisted with data collection and data analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.