More Reps With Betaine

Betaine, a.k.a. trimethylglycine, plays a role in a host of things; for example, reducing plasma homocysteine and preventing an accumulation of fat in the body. Early work on betaine showed that dietary supplementation of betaine and conjugated linoleic acid increased protein, water and lean deposition in growing pigs.1 Also, betaine can spare methionine in its function as an essential amino acid and is as effective as methionine in improving growth performance and quality of poultry.2 But who cares about pigs and chickens, eh? In humans, betaine may help performance.

In a study done at the College of New Jersey, 24 men were randomly assigned to one of two supplement groups, the first getting betaine daily, and the second getting a placebo. The subjects were tested before supplementation, on days seven and 14 following supplementation. Each test occurred over a two-day period. On the first day of testing the subjects performed two power tests: a vertical jump and a bench press throw. They were required to perform as many repetitions as possible with 75 percent of their one-rep maximums in the squat and bench press. Having tried those exercise tests, I can tell you they’re both quite painful! On the second day of testing subjects performed two 30-second Wingate anaerobic power tests with a five-minute active rest between them. Did betaine actually help? Let’s find out.

No differences were seen at day seven or day 14 in the number of repetitions performed to exhaustion or in the repetitions performed at 90 percent of both peak and mean power between the groups in the bench press. At day seven, however, the betaine group performed a significantly greater number of squats than the placebo group did. No difference in any power assessment was observed between the groups. These findings indicate that two weeks of betaine supplementation in active college-age males can improve muscle endurance in the squat and improve the quality of repetitions performed.3

It isn’t clear, at least to me, why betaine can help performance. True, it helps farm animals grow bigger and with less fat, but as I don’t raise farm animals, that’s useless information to me. Other scientists speculate that somehow it elevates creatine in muscle cells. That may be true, inasmuch as this study saw an ergogenic benefit in seven days. Nonetheless, adding betaine to a protein powder may certainly be a strategy worth trying.

Editor’s note: Jose Antonio, Ph.D., is the CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (www.theissn.org) and is a sports science consultant to VPX/Redline.

References

3 Hoffman, J.R., et al. (2009). Effect of betaine supplementation on power performance and fatigue. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 6:7.