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Abstract
Background
The purpose of this study was to examine the short-term and chronic effects of β-ALA supplementation with and without creatine monohydrate on body composition, aerobic and anaerobic exercise performance, and muscle carnosine and creatine levels in college-aged recreationally active females.
Methods
Thirty-two females were randomized in a double-blind, placebo-controlled manner into one of four supplementation groups: β-ALA only (BA, n = 8), creatine only (CRE, n = 8), β-ALA and creatine combined (BAC, n = 9) and placebo (PLA, n = 7). Participants supplemented for four weeks included a loading phase for the creatine for week 1 of 0.3 g/kg of body weight and a maintenance phase for weeks 2–4 of 0.1 g/kg of body weight, with or without a continuous dose of β-ALA of 0.1 g/kg of body weight with doses rounded to the nearest 800 mg capsule providing an average of 6.1 ± 0.7 g/day of β-ALA. Participants reported for testing at baseline, day 7 and day 28. Testing sessions consisted of obtaining a resting muscle biopsy of the vastus lateralis, body composition measurements, performing a graded exercise test on the cycle ergometer for VO2peak with lactate threshold determination, and multiple Wingate anaerobic capacity tests.
Results
Although mean changes were consistent with prior studies and large effect sizes were noted, no significant differences were observed among groups in changes in muscle carnosine levels (BA 35.3 ± 45; BAC 42.5 ± 99; CRE 0.72 ± 27; PLA 13.9 ± 44%, p = 0.59). Similarly, although changes in muscle phosphagen levels after one week of supplementation were consistent with prior reports and large effect sizes were seen, no statistically significant effects were observed among groups in changes in muscle phosphagen levels and the impact of CRE supplementation appeared to diminish during the maintenance phase. Additionally, significant time × group × Wingate interactions were observed among groups for repeated sprint peak power normalized to bodyweight (p = 0.02) and rate of fatigue (p = 0.04).
Conclusions
Results of the present study did not reveal any consistent additive benefits of BA and CRE supplementation in recreationally active women.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0055-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Copyright comment
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12970-014-0055-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Copyright comment
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the individuals that participated as participants in this study and research assistants who assisted with data collection and/or analysis. We would also like to thank Dr. Roger Harris for providing guidance on muscle carnosine and phosphagen assays.
Funding
This study was supported by a student grant from the Huffines Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance and the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab at Texas A&M University. Supplements used in this study were provided by AlzChem Trostberg GmbH (Germany) and Natural Alternatives International, Inc. (San Marcos, CA).
Competing interests
All researchers involved independently collected, analyzed, and interpreted the results from this study and have no financial interests concerning the outcome of the investigation. RBK has received grants as Principal Investigator through institutions with which he has been affiliated to conduct exercise and nutrition related research, has served as a legal and scientific consultant, and currently serves as a scientific consultant for Woodbolt International (Bryan, TX). Remaining co-authors have no competing interests to declare. Data from this study have been presented at the International Society of Sports Nutrition Annual meeting and have not been submitted for publication to any other journals. Publication of these findings should not be viewed as endorsement by the investigators or their institutions of the nutrients investigated.
Authors’ contributions
JYK served as the study coordinator, oversaw all testing, and assisted in data analysis and writing of the manuscript. JMO and ARJ assisted in data collection, performed muscle assays, assisted in statistical analysis and manuscript preparation. JF and SR supervised the biopsy procedures. KK supervised muscle assays and CM and ST served as collaborating scientists. CR served as lab coordinator and oversaw data collection and quality control of the study. RBK served as Principal Investigator and contributed to the design of the study, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, and procurement of external funding. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.