Beta-alanine is a non-essential amino acid.
What are amino acids?
The body can make Non-essential amino acids, so they don’t have to be provided by food. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
Where is Beta-alanine found?
β-Alanine is not found in any major proteins or enzymes. It is a component of the naturally occurring peptides carnosine and anserine, and pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), which is a component of coenzyme A.
Under normal conditions, β-alanine is metabolized into acetic acid. β-Alanine is the rate-limiting precursor of carnosine, which is to say carnosine levels are limited by the amount of available β-alanine, not histidine.
Beta-alanine also is a breakdown product of the pyrimidine bases cytosine and uracil.
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