the effects of beta-alanine supplementation on body composition indices: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials

Beta-alanine is an important oral supplement for improving athletes’ performance, followed by probable effects on body composition. current meta-analysis was performed to investigate the role of beta-alanine supplementation on body weight, fat mass, free fat mass, and body fat percentage in adults. methods: web of science, pubmed, scopus, cochrane library databases, and embase were searched between january 1990 and may 2021. randomized controlled trials (rcts) comparing beta-alanine supplementation with a placebo assessing anthropometric indices were included. meta‐analysis was performed using the random‐effects model. publication bias was evaluated using standard methods, and subgroup analysis and meta‐regression were carried out. results: a total of 875 articles were identified through database searching, of which 12 rcts with 15 datasets were included in the study. this study showed that beta-alanine supplementation did not have any significant effect on body weight [smd, 0.08; 95% ci (−0.17, 0.33); p=0.517], fat percentage [smd, 0.09; 95% ci (−0.18, 0.37); p=0.504], fat mass [smd, 0.10; 95% ci (−0.29, 0.50); p=0.612], and fat free mass [smd, 0.16; 95% ci (−0.18, 0.49); p=0.517]. conclusions: results showed that beta-alanine supplementation does not change body composition significantly.