News on the Taurine vs. Beta Alanine Antagonism

Those of you who have been following the SuppVersity for some time, may remember my blogpost on the antagonism of Taurine and Beta Alanine on a cellular level and the possible detrimental effects of high dose Beta Alanine supplementation on Taurine content of muscle fibers. Now, scientists from Australia and the USA have investigated the effect of Taurine and Beta Alanine on mdx mice, which are a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These mice have naturally low levels of Taurine, which further decrease in the process of muscular degeneration and - as one would expect - did benefit from 4 weeks of  3% Taurine supplementation via drinking water. Supplementation with 3% Beta Alanine, on the other hand did not worsen the symptoms, as one might have expected, but "b-alanine supplementation reduced fatigue (p < 0.05) in both control and mdx mice". Furthermore...

Taurine supplementation had no effect on the recovery of the control group, [while] b-alanine supplementation improved recovery in the control mice up to 10 minutes with no significant difference between supplement groups observed after this time.

In view of the fact, that, hopefully, none of you suffer from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, I will probably have to put my previous warning, not to consume Beta Alanine without concurrently supplementing Taurine, into perspective. I do yet stick to my recommendation not to overdo it on the Beta Alanine, if not detrimental, it would at least be a waste of money, because research has shown that after a few weeks of 3-5g Beta Alanine a day, muscle carnosine levels saturate.