Some Random Beta Alanine Facts
For the record pork, chicken, and red meat do contain carnosine and you can effect your intramuscular carnosine levels by eating a "bodybuilding" diet. Most people aren’t aware of this and no supplement company will market their product with this information.
For example I’m eating about 3 lbs of chicken and 1 pound of red meat a day. The typical carnosine content for chicken breasts is about 400mg/100g and beef is about 333mg/100g that would mean I getting in about 3.4 grams of carnosine from chicken and about 5.4 grams of carnosine from chicken and 1.51 grams from beef which is about 6.9 grams of carnosine total from my diet per day.
The reason I bring this up is two fold. One, the benefits of wholefood almost always trump that of supplements and animal meats certainly help provide a suitable source of carnosine albeit the not the most efficient mode due to the fact it’s broken down into beta alanine and histidine by carnosinase. Second, it also provides other benefits like protein, gluthionine, vitamin E, etc in their natural forms.This in part why protein powders are vastly inferior to animal meats except for the fact they are convenient.
Regardless, I don’t feel high dosed beta alanine is necessary if your diet is "good" like it should be. In the case of vegans this would be different story. However, there is no doubt that some supplementation is VERY beneficial as well from a wellness perspective as well as a proven physical performance enhancer.
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Originally Posted by LakunaKoil
 Excellent feedback , looks like BA is a staple for a lot of people
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I’ve made it a staple because it appears to fight glycation which is the cause for many age and diabetes related illnesse. It sucks that supplement companies can’t mention this because their is very strong evidence to suggest higher carnosine concentrations fights advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Here’s a good article by the Life Extension.
How Carnosine Protects Against Age-Related Disease By Edward R. Rosick, DO, MPH, MS
When I reviewed Octane I brought all of this up just because I felt it opened up a new perspective to the forum on this great supplement. This could apply to any BA product and is why I have my father taking it. He could care less about greater endurance, but does care about atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease.
February 18, 2008 at 6:10 am
That was an excellent blog. And very informative. I supplement with carnosine to combat AGE’s and didn’t even realize I was probably getting a sufficient amount from my diet. Thanks so much for the information.