Creatine and Beta-Alanine Supplementation for Endurance Athletes: Ergogenic Aids for Reaching the Podium?
Study Details
This structured narrative review included 19 articles, examining creatine, beta-alanine and their co-supplementation for endurance athletes 🔍
Key findings ⬇️
Key Findings
🧬 Beta-alanine increases muscle carnosine and intracellular buffering, potentially delaying fatigue when glycolytic demand is high
⏱️ Its clearest value may be in efforts lasting 1–10 min, or longer races containing threshold work, repeated surges, climbs and finishing sprints
📈 Some studies improved time to exhaustion, 10-km running or late-race sprint power, but several found no benefit for time trials or VO₂max
🥄 The review suggests 3.2–6.4 g/day for ≥4 weeks, divided into smaller doses to reduce paraesthesia
⚡ Creatine may support repeated high-intensity efforts through greater phosphocreatine availability, ATP resynthesis and buffering capacity
🍞 It may also enhance carbohydrate-mediated glycogen resynthesis and potentially reduce muscle damage and inflammation
🚴 Benefits appear most plausible in cycling, triathlon and tactically variable events involving repeated accelerations or decisive sprint finishes
🏃 Any transient body-mass increase may matter more in weight-bearing events such as running
↔️ Creatine has not consistently improved VO₂max, lactate threshold, time to exhaustion or overall endurance performance
🧪 Combining creatine and beta-alanine has not shown a clear additional benefit for aerobic capacity or endurance performance
⚠️ Most evidence comes from untrained, recreational or moderately trained participants, with little direct research in elite endurance athletes
Conclusion
For endurance athletes, creatine and beta-alanine are best periodised around high-intensity training or races involving surges, climbs and sprint finishes, rather than treated as universal supplements for steady-state endurance ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42959925/
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