Dietary supplements in sports - from lab to arena
Recently, University of Bergen arranged its yearly Teachers Day conference where teachers get updated on recent and relevant research in the community. One of our PhD students, Selina Cannon Homaei presented some general scientific information on usage of creatine, caffeine, and beta-alanine, as well as relevant research from the Haavik group. The usage of supplements and energy drinks is rapidly increasing, making this topic highly relevant for anyone working with children and young adults.
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Increased interest in exercise is usually paired with exploring dietary supplements. Today, several hundred of these supplements are easily available online where they are marketed with catchy names and esthetically pleasing designs. Moreover, social media is flooded with the promise of a stronger, better version followed by discount codes galore. Therefore, it is not surprising that many, young and old, get wrapped into the world of supplements. But how do these influence our biological functions, and does enough scientific data support their use? In a 2020 paper from the Haavik group (Mahootchi et al., 2020) we presented the first-ever GADL1 knockout mice. Our research showed that the GADL1 enzyme plays a vital role in the synthesis of beta-alanine and its derivatives (e.g., carnosine). These are popular metabolites often used in exercise-related supplements. We are the first to describe this specific synthesis pathway for beta-alanine, fueling new research and possible explanations for congenital differences in muscle strength. Most vendors market beta-alanine as your golden ticket to increase muscle strength and endurance by increasing your intramuscular concentration of carnosine which delays lactic acid production. Although there are studies that document this positive effect, usage is exercise and dosage-dependent meaning that most won’t experience large effects of beta-alanine intake. The exact effects and possible side-effects are still debated, for instance around 95% of digested beta-alanine has an unknown metabolic fate (Stegen et al., 2013). Importantly, a more commonly experienced side-effect is paresthesia (tickling feeling, “ants crawling over your skin”) which could possibly lead to a placebo-related effect. By giving a brief overview of both our own and relevant research found in the literature, we hope that children and young adults, as well as their teachers, can form a more nuanced look at the biological effects of using dietary supplements and consuming energy drinks daily.
The talk is available at https://youtu.be/3sEFJCx6kMk (in Norwegian).
