STORRS, Conn.—Active men looking to boost their power output may wish to add betaine to their sports nutrition supplementation. A new trial out of the University of Connecticut reports just two weeks of supplementation with betaine could boost power, recovery and strength in adult males undergoing resistance training (J Intl Soc Sports Nutr. 2010;7:27. DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-7-27).
Subjects (n=12) performed a number of high intensity strength/power resistance exercises including vertical jump, squats and bench press at baseline, and again after 14 days of consuming 1.25 g of betaine (as BetaPower™ Natural Betaine, from Danisco) in 300 mL of Gatorade sports drink twice daily or a placebo. After the intervention, the men underwent a 14-day washout and were crossed over to the alternate intervention.
Supplementation with betaine significantly increased the men’s power output in isometric squat force, bench press force and bench throw power. There were also increases in two of the four vertical jumps. Researchers commented the supplementation had a positive ergogenic effect, more so for the upper body than lower body, which they suggest could have been due to differences in neural fatigue or pre-existing conditions in muscle strength.
The U Conn team also cited results of a study published last year in the same journal (2009;6:7. DOI: 10.1186/1550-2783-6-7), in which a similar level of supplementation with BetaPower in 24 male athletes increased the number of repetitions during squat exercise at 75 percent of max and 90+ percent of max capacity.