Andrew Lysy
Nutrition for Fitness
Diet Supplement Fact Sheet
4/22/2014
ENGN Pre-Workout - Beta Alanine
ENGN pre workout booster by EVLution Nutrition is a pre-workout booster that is
supposed to give you “intense energy,” “amplified pumps,” “maximum focus,” and “explosive
power,” through the combination of their ingredients. ENGN pre workout booster “has been
designed to fuel all athletes whether you are a track star, bodybuilder or action sport athlete
ENGN will fuel you.” “ENGN’s revolutionary formula is all about game changing progress
every time you hit the gym, field, octagon, stage or court! Simply put, we never settle and we
formulated ENGN to give you the tunnel vision focus,positive mental state, drive, strength,
pumps and unmatched energy less chance of crab, for the best workouts you ever had!”
The active ingredients in this dietary supplement are niacin, vitamin b6, folic acid,
vitamin b12, magnesium, beta alanine, creatine monohydrate, magnesium creatine chelate, and
the “ENGN Mind-to-Muscle Matrix Proprietary Blend” which includes betaine anhydrous, ltyrosine, agmatine sulfate, caffeine anhydrous, infinergy TM, alpha-glyceylphosphorylcholine,
choline bitartrate, pikatropinTM, and huperzia serrata extract.
The warning label is as followed: not for use of by those with pre-existing medical
conditions or taking any medications, those under the age of 18, or women that are
contemplating pregnancy, pregnant, nursing or those that are caffeine, niacin, or beta-alanine
sensitive. Consult your physician prior to using this product if you are taking any prescription or
over-the-counter medication or supplements. Do not use this product if you are at risk or are
being treated for any medical condition including, but not limited to: high or low blood pressure;
cardiac arrhythmia; stroke; heart, liver, kidney or thyroid disease; seizure disorder; psychiatric
disease; diabetes; difficulty urinating due to prostate enlargement or if you are taking a MAO
inhibitor. Discontinue use and consult your healthcare professional if you experience any adverse
reaction to this product. Keep out of reach of all children. Do not exceed recommended serving
size or suggested use for any reason.
For this fact sheet I will be covering beta alanine. According to the US National Library
of Medicine, since muscle acidosis is likely to contribute to the onset of fatigue during highintensity exercise, increasing the muscle carnosine concentration would theoretically increase the
intracellular buffering capacity, thereby potentially delaying the onset of fatigue.
Supplementation of beta alanine has been shown to significantly elevate carnosine levels in both
type I and type II muscle fibers. According to the Human Performance Resource Center, betaalanine is a nonessential amino acid. High carnosine concentrations occur naturally in
individuals with high proportion of type I muscle fibers or in those whose diet is high in protein.
Muscle carnosine content is lower in women, declines in age and is lower in vegetarians.
A study done by the US National Library of Medicine took 57 exercise measures and
divided them into three different sections. Exercises <60 seconds, 60-240 seconds, and >240
seconds. The study came out to show that the only significant difference between those taking
beta-alanine and those taking the placebo was during the 60-240 seconds. There was no major
difference between <60 seconds of exercise and >240 seconds of an exercise.
Another study done by the US National Library of Medicine shows a significant
difference between the beta-alanine and placebo groups when exercise capacity was measured.
Both of these studies helps prove that in order to get the most out of beta-alanine, you
should take no less than one minute and no more than four minutes to do an exercise. These
studies also show that beta-alanine can help push you past your maximum exertion point during
an exercise. It is obvious that the maximum exertion point usually happens between one and four
minutes into an exercise.
According to the Australian Institute of Sport, funded by the Australian Government and
the Australian Sports Commission, protocols that have been shown to be most effective in
increasing muscle carnosine concentrations include dosing with 3.2-6.4 g/d for 6-10 weeks.
Some of the concerns that are associated with beta-alanine use are paraesthesia, which is
skin tingling, an enhanced capacity for hard training, which could lead to an increased risk of
injury, illness, or extreme fatigue.
To reach paraesthesia, dosages >10 mg/kg of body weight would need to be consumed.
There are no investigations done for side effects of long-term use of beta-alanine.
From the research I have read, it is clear that the right dosage of beta-alanine does
improve performance. I think the negatives associated with beta-alanine comes from the
supplements it’s added with. For example, take a look at the ingredient list of the pre-workout I
talked about before. I have no idea what half of those ingredients are! I believe that beta-alanine
taken alone can be beneficial to anyone looking to get a little extra push during their workout,
especially those of older age.
Works Cited
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/evlution-nutrition/engn.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3374095/
http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/446721/B-alanine_11_Website_fact_sheet.pdf
http://hprc-online.org/dietary-supplements/dietary-supplement-classification-system-1/class-4supplements/copy_of_branched-chain-amino-acids