β ‐alanine supplementation in adults with overweight and obesity: a randomized controlled feasibility trial

Joseph J. Matthews, Jade V. Creighton, James Donaldson, Paul A. Swinton, Ioannis Kyrou, Srikanth Bellary, Iskandar Idris, Lívia Santos, Mark D. Turner, Craig L. Doig, Kirsty J. Elliott‐Sale, Craig Sale*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Overweight and obesity are characterized by excess adiposity and systemic, chronic, low-grade inflammation, which is associated with several metabolic disorders. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and tolerability of β-alanine supplementation and to explore the effects on cardiometabolic health and cardiovascular, hepatic, and renal function in adults with overweight and obesity.

METHODS: A total of 27 adults (44% female; mean [SD], age: 58 [10] years, BMI: 31.1 [2.9] kg/m 2, hemoglobin A1c: 39.8 [4.3] mmol/mol) received β-alanine (4.8 g/day) or a matched placebo for 3 months. Feasibility and tolerability outcomes included adherence, side effects, recruitment, attrition, and blinding, and exploratory outcomes included biochemical markers, blood pressures, and transthoracic echocardiography parameters. Data were analyzed using a Bayesian approach presented with 95% credible intervals (CrI).

RESULTS: β-alanine was well tolerated and adhered to (adherence: placebo, 0.91 [95% CrI: 0.84-0.95]; β-alanine, 0.92 [95% CrI: 0.85-0.95]), and side effects remained at or below baseline throughout. The probability that β-alanine supplementation affected cardiometabolic, cardiovascular, or clinical biochemical outcomes was low.

CONCLUSIONS: Sustained-release β-alanine supplementation is well tolerated and adhered to in adults with overweight and obesity. Future research should consider more advanced metabolic conditions, which may benefit from longer duration supplementation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)278-288
Number of pages11
JournalObesity
Volume33
Issue number2
Early online date12 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2025

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Obesity published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Obesity Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.

Data Access Statement

Deidentified individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article are available in an open-access repository
(zenodo.org/records/14165012).

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