Effects of short-term betaine supplementation on muscle endurance and indices of endocrine function following acute high-intensity resistance exercise in young athletes.

Objective: This study examined the effects of short-term betaine supplementation on muscle endurance, plasma lactate, testosterone and cortisol levels, and the testosterone to cortisol (T/C) ratio in response to acute resistance exercise (RE).

Method: Using a double-blind, crossover study design, 10 handball players (age ± SD = 16 ± 1 yrs) without prior-structured RE experience performed a high-intensity RE session (leg press followed by bench press; 5 sets to volitional fatigue using 80% baseline 1 repetition maximum (1RM)), before and after 14 days of either placebo (maltodextrin) or betaine (2.5 g·d^-1) supplementation. A 30-day washout period separated each treatment. 48 h prior to testing sessions, participants recorded their food intake and did not perform strenuous exercise. Venous blood was sampled before supplementation, and before and after each RE session.

Results: After betaine supplementation, participants performed more repetitions (p < 0.001) during the leg press (Betaine: 35.8 ± 4.3; Placebo: 24.8 ± 3.6, Cohen's d = 2.77) and bench press (Betaine: 36.3 ± 2.6; Placebo: 26.1 ± 3.5, Cohen's d = 3.34). Betaine resulted in lower post-exercise cortisol (Betaine: 7.6 ± 1.7; Placebo: 13 ± 3.4 µg.dL^-1, p = 0.003, generalized eta squared ( ${\eta }_G^2$ ) = 0.49) and lactate (Betaine: 5.2 ± 0.3; Placebo: 6 ± 0.3 mmol.L^-1, p < 0.001, ${\eta }_G^2$ = 0.96) and higher total testosterone (Betaine: 15.2 ± 2.2; Placebo: 8.7 ± 1.7 ng.mL^-1, p < 0.001, ${\eta }_G^2$ = 0.87) and T/C ratio (Betaine: 0.21 ± 0.05; Placebo: 0.07 ± 0.02, p < 0.001, = 0.82).

Conclusions: Two weeks of betaine supplementation improved upper- and lower-body muscle endurance and influenced indices of endocrine function following an acute session of high-intensity RE in adolescent handball players.