Performance Nutrition for Female Athletes: Beta-Alanine and Life-Stage Considerations

In this interview, Nutritional Outlook Associate Editor Erin McEvoy speaks with Maura MacDonald, MS, RD, CSSD, LDN, Sports Dietitian and Medical Education Specialist for Sports Nutrition at Thorne, about what a recent systematic review of 11 randomized controlled trials reveals: beta-alanine consistently increases time to exhaustion in female athletes, reinforcing its established role as a performance-supporting ingredient for endurance and high-intensity exercise. MacDonald unpacks why this consistency across trials matters for an ingredient long validated in male-athlete research but historically understudied in female populations, and what it means for brands formulating beta-alanine products aimed at women.

The conversation extends beyond beta-alanine to broader life-stage considerations in women's sports nutrition — how female athletes' needs shift across different physiological stages and why formulation strategy should account for that. MacDonald offers a science-forward perspective for supplement brands looking to develop or refine performance ingredients with female athletes specifically in mind, emphasizing the value of sex-specific clinical evidence over extrapolating from male-athlete data alone.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: Hello everyone. I'm Erin McEvoy, associate editor of Nutritional Outlook, and today I'm joined by Maura McDonald, performance dietitian at Thorne, here to discuss recent research on beta-alanine and female athletes. Thank you for joining us today, Maura.

Maura MacDonald: Thank you for having me.

McEvoy: It's a pleasure. So, at last year's Outlook on Active Nutrition, you spoke about how beta-alanine can pair with other ingredients to support endurance during workouts. A recent systematic review also suggested beta-alanine by itself may support the time to exhaustion in female athletes specifically. How might this affect formulations that stack benefits for athletes?

MacDonald: Yeah, so based on the findings of this study, they saw consistency across 11 randomized control trials that beta-alanine increases time to exhaustion. Based on what we know about beta-alanine as an ingredient, and a lot of the data comes from men, but based on what we know about the ingredient, I don't think this changes anything about how it could affect formulations or the stacking potential of this particular ingredient. Beta-alanine has always been known to be an ingredient that can increase time to exhaustion and prolong exercise intensity, just based on how it can buffer lactic acid. I think now we just have that confirmation that this is also true in female athletes, and we can now apply this data specifically to females.

McEvoy: What would you say is the importance of closing those research gaps for female athletes specifically? And what are what other nutrients would you say are underrepresented in clinical studies that could use some more attention?

MacDonald: Closing the research gap between females and males is critical. It's not just important for athletes, but women's health as a whole. You asked about other ingredients, like when it comes to protein and carbohydrates. These are very basic nutrients, I'll call them. We know they're beneficial for both women, men, and women, and they do the same thing, relatively speaking. But there's also research coming out to show that there are important sex-specific differences in how these nutrients are metabolized, utilized, and required before, during, and after exercise. So I think more research is needed on a lot of these ingredients, whether it's carbohydrates, protein, beta-alanine, or something else, because a deeper understanding of these differences will help to drive more personalized nutrition strategies, improve product development, and ensure recommendations for athletes are based on evidence that truly reflects their physiology.

McEvoy: Interesting, and kind of along those lines, how can brands ensure that they are using clinically backed, effective doses for female athletes?

MacDonald: And it really all comes down to science. Supporting those female athletes starts with the science, and formulating products with evidence-based ingredients at clinically studied doses helps to ensure products are, you know, designed to meet their unique needs. And if the research doesn't exist, it's important that brands either invest in doing this research or advocate for the research.

McEvoy: Definitely, definitely important. So, based on your experience spanning collegiate athletes and broader wellness education, how do performance ingredients like beta-alanine translate to the casual gym goer, and how can manufacturers manage those consumer expectations regarding actual day-to-day benefits?

MacDonald: Yeah, performance-focused ingredients aren't necessarily just for elite athletes. They can benefit anyone who exercises, whether you're new to the gym or have been training for decades. Ergogenic aids work through the same physiological mechanisms to support performance for everyone. And while the degree of benefits may vary depending upon an individual's training status, their goals, their exercise routine, these ingredients can be valuable tools for both beginners and experienced athletes alike.

McEvoy: Nice, definitely interesting. Zooming out a little bit, as the consumer interest in the overlap between nutrition and health span rises, are there specific age-related physiological shifts that formulators should be thinking about when designing the next generation of active nutrition products?

MacDonald: Definitely, when we think about developing the next generation of active nutrition products for women, we need to think about how women's nutritional needs aren't static; they evolve across their entire lifespan. And when developing supplements for women, formulators should consider how there are significant hormonal and physiological changes that occur at different stages, and how these could influence nutritional requirements, performance goals, and things like that.

So major transitions like pregnancy, postpartum, as well as perimenopause and menopause, are accompanied by these substantial hormonal shifts that can affect everything from recovery to body composition, bone health, energy metabolism, and even earlier in adulthood, women can experience changes in hormones, lifestyle, and physiology around their mid 20s that can affect their nutritional needs and how they exercise and how they transition into that next life phase. So rather than viewing women as a single consumer group, brands should try and identify specific life stages that they're designing for, and then formulate products based on the unique physiological considerations of that population. So creating life stage specific evidence based formulations, these are more likely to meet women's evolving health and performance needs throughout their lifetime.