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Beta-alanine
Our file describes it as the building block your muscles use to make carnosine. It carries no authorised EU claim: EFSA rejected the claims built on that, on exercise performance, endurance and muscle carnosine, twice. It sits in one formula, below the daily doses the studies in our file use, and we do not attribute an effect to it.
WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO SAY
No authorised claim. EFSA said no, twice.
There is no health claim for beta-alanine on the EU register, so there is no wording for us to quote. EFSA assessed the claims put forward for it on physical performance, endurance and muscle carnosine and rejected them, first in 2010 (EFSA Journal 2010;8(10):1729) and again in 2014, for the patented CarnoSyn® form (EFSA Journal 2014;12(7):3755). It never made it into Regulation 432/2012.There is no health claim for beta-alanine on the EU register. EFSA rejected its performance claims in 2010 and again in 2014, so there is nothing for us to quote.
You will read that beta-alanine improves your performance or your endurance. Those are exactly the claims EFSA turned down. In Pre-workout it sits next to creatine, whose performance claim is authorised, but no claim on that formula comes from the beta-alanine.
WHY CARNOSYN®
No claim to protect. A tingling to manage.
No form of beta-alanine carries an authorised claim, so the form is not a claim argument and we do not use it as one. Our file names CarnoSyn®, a patented beta-alanine, as the preferred form, because it has the most evidence behind it. It dissolves in water, stays stable in liquid and tastes neutral, which is what a liquid system needs. The choice that matters more is how it is taken, because of the tingling.
A patented beta-alanine, and the form with the most evidence behind it in our notes. Soluble in water, stable in liquid, neutral in taste, and most at home between pH 5 and 7.
A slow-release version, CarnoSyn SR in our notes. The ISSN position stand names a sustained-release formula, or lower divided doses, as the way to soften the tingling. Our notes list it, alongside free beta-alanine, for exactly that reason.
You could take carnosine itself, but our notes call it less efficient than giving your muscles the building block. It would also do the same job twice, so our notes flag it as a duplicate.
Our file names CarnoSyn® as the preferred form, but the supplier is still pending, so we cannot tell you yet that the beta-alanine in your cartridge is that one. Our files also record about 70% absorbed, and note that absorption saturates, which favours smaller split doses. That figure is not traced to a checked source yet, so we do not quote it as fact.Our file prefers CarnoSyn®, but the supplier is still pending, so we cannot tell you yet that it is the one in your cartridge.
WHERE IT APPEARS
One of the twenty-nine carries beta-alanine.
It appears only in Pre-workout, next to creatine, citrulline, caffeine and vitamin B3. The 1.6 g it carries is below the 4 to 6 g a day the ISSN position stand describes, and below the 3.2 to 6.4 g a day in our own file, and we would rather tell you than round it up. It is served in one go. Our file says tingling can start above 800 mg taken at once, while the ISSN position stand counts 1.6 g among the lower, divided doses that soften it. We give you both rather than pick the kinder one. The formula is taken 30 to 60 minutes before you train, at most once a day and never after 16:00, it runs in cycles of up to 24 weeks with a pause of at least 4, and it has its own exclusions. They are on its own page.
THE CEILING
No official limit. And no engine rule for it yet.
EFSA has not set an upper intake level for beta-alanine, and there is no NRV, because it is not an essential nutrient. Our file says to stay with the standard doses from the clinical literature. Pre-workout is the only formula that carries it, so 1.6 g is also your total from us. Our notes set 6.4 g a day as the most you should get if it ever sat in two formulas at once, but that is not written as a rule in the engine yet, and we would rather tell you that than imply a check that is not there.EFSA has not set an upper limit for beta-alanine and there is no NRV. Pre-workout is the only formula that carries it, so 1.6 g is your total from us.
Beta-alanine does not act on the day you take it. Half of it leaves your blood in about 25 minutes, taken up by your muscles as carnosine or partly cleared through the kidneys, and our file puts the first change at 2 to 4 weeks. That is why Pre-workout runs in cycles: reviewed at 8 weeks, stopped at 24, then a pause of at least 4. Our formula file ties that pause to the fact that there is no safety data on use beyond a year.
The only side effect the ISSN position stand reports is tingling. Our file says that, taken in one go above 800 mg, it can cause a harmless tingling in your face, scalp or hands that passes in 60 to 90 minutes, and Pre-workout serves 1.6 g at once. Food, smaller split doses or a sustained-release form soften it. At high doses a few sensitive people get nausea or a mild rash. Our file finds no evidence of chronic toxicity at 6.4 g a day over 8 to 24 weeks.
In pregnancy and breastfeeding there is not enough data: avoid it. It is not recommended under 18 outside supervised sport. There is not enough data with cancer either: avoid it. Take care with moderate to severe kidney disease, since it is partly cleared through the kidneys, and use it only under supervision. With liver disease, heart disease or arrhythmias it is not ruled out, but the data are limited. Pre-workout itself excludes pregnancy, breastfeeding, under 18, heart disease and liver disease. It also serves 5 g of creatine, above the 3 g a day EFSA assessed for long-term use; our formula file records that as a deliberate sport-use decision, to be noted in your file.
WHAT IT REACTS WITH
Documented pairs, not hunches.
Beta-alanine is one of the 140 ingredients in our library, so it has 139 possible partners. We have documented 5 of them, out of the 443 pairs on file. Two are complementary, and both share Pre-workout with it: creatine, which rebuilds energy in efforts under 30 seconds while beta-alanine buffers acid in efforts of one to four minutes, and citrulline. Its other formula partners, caffeine and vitamin B3, have not been checked against it yet.
Both use the same transporter to get into your cells. Taken together for more than 12 weeks, beta-alanine can reduce how much taurine your muscles take up. So they never share a formula, and if both were ever in your plan, they would be kept at least 2 to 4 hours apart. Taurine is not in any formula today.
Charcoal binds it in the gut and lowers how much you absorb, so it stays at least 2 hours away. Psyllium husk reduces absorption slightly, so it stays at least 1 hour away.
Our file notes a minor, theoretical interaction with ACE inhibitors such as captopril or enalapril, through the same transporter. It records no known interaction with anticoagulants or psychiatric medication, and no clinical evidence of one with diuretics. If you take regular medication, the app asks before Pre-workout is ever assigned.
None of beta-alanine's medication interactions is in our drug table yet: the card above comes from its own file, not from a checked pair. Our notes also list histidine and sodium bicarbonate as partners, but neither is a documented pair. The 2 to 4 hours between it and taurine is written in our notes, but not yet as a window or a rule the engine reads. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not "safe", they are simply unchecked, and we would rather write that down than let the number look like a badge.None of beta-alanine's medication interactions is in our drug table yet. Across the library, 443 of the 9,730 possible pairs are documented, which is 4.55%. The rest are not safe, they are simply unchecked.
SOURCES
Everything on this page, with its reference.
Reviewed by VION nutrition team · last reviewed 16 September 2026
140 INGREDIENTS · 64 IN USE TODAY
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