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Beta-alanine helps with anxiety
If you are irritable and do not know what to do during a demanding training period, your exams, or because of social, family, or work-related reasons, you may feel anxious—but nature is on your side thanks to the support supplements such as beta-alanine can provide.
Are you anxious? Well, a Japanese study has shown that you can overcome anxiety more easily by taking beta-alanine. And if the Japanese researchers are correct in their assumptions, beta-alanine may also protect against depression and dementia.
Taurine, a transporter substrate, functions as a neuromodulator and antioxidant, while beta-alanine, an inhibitor of the taurine transporter, acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain. According to the research, both substrates included in the daily diet were expected to be effective antidepressant treatments.
These findings sparked Japanese researchers’ interest in taurine and beta-alanine’s new capabilities. Therefore, to investigate the effects of frequent intake in small animals, they used taurine supplementation (22.5 mmol/kg) and beta-alanine supplementation (22.5 mmol/kg) under chronic stress conditions, comparing behavioral and brain metabolite changes between the supplemented animals and those that followed a regular diet.
Researchers at Kyushu University conducted an experiment with three groups of rodents: one group received a standard diet for 5 weeks, the second received 22.5 mmol of taurine, and the third group received 22.5 mmol of beta-alanine. After approximately 4 weeks, the researchers subjected the rodents to psychological tests designed to assess how easily the animals could cope with anxiety.
In one test, the Japanese researchers measured how long the rodents dared to walk through open corridors, a frightening environment, and in another, how often they risked entering them. Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that in both tests, beta-alanine supplementation made the rodents braver.
The mechanism of beta-alanine on the BDNF factor
After the 5 weeks had passed, the researchers examined the hippocampus in the animals’ brains and discovered how beta-alanine had changed their behavior.
- The amino acid had stimulated the synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus.
- BDNF affects brain cells in much the same way steroids affect muscle cells; it helps them grow, not in physical size, but by helping brain cells establish new connections with one another.
The hippocampus plays a role in processing and using information; damage to the hippocampus is often found in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and schizophrenia. Because BDNF can stimulate nerve cells to repair damage, scientists are studying the effects of lifestyle on BDNF synthesis.
A lifestyle that activates this brain factor may help protect against dementia and Alzheimer’s and, among athletes, improve quality of life by reducing or eliminating anxiety as much as possible. Low BDNF activity may lead to increased depression, although physical exercise, antidepressants, and intellectual stimulation likely help combat depression because they all activate BDNF. However, stopping medication and using supplements such as beta-alanine may be not only “natural” but also effective.