The "tingly, itchy" feeling usually on your finger tips and scalp is a sign that there IS actual Beta Alanine in your product (and in high enough quantities). It feels very much like a Niacin flush feeling (those that have used Niacin to get vascularity out before a show will know the feeling I'm talking about). I talked with the doctor that has the patent on Beta Alanine it and for some reason (that science cannot explain), the ingestion of carbs with it seems to remove this tingling sensation?
Beta Alanine converts into Carnosine in the muscles and when there, acts as a free-radical scavenger that buffers lactic acid allowing you to get more reps before "the burn" makes you stop doing more reps. Beta Alanine needs to be taken for 4 weeks straight to let the body's Carnosine levels build up in the muscle cells to a high enough level to exert the desired effect.
Why not just take Carnosine then? Good question. The Carnosine molecule is too large to be absorbed into the muscle cells intact.
Beta Alanine stacks extremely well with Creatine as both have the ability to improve stamina and muscle energetics but through different pathways. EAS has combined the two in the Phosphagen Elite formula (and even added carbs to remove the tingling feeling) but a series of other supplement companies will be adding Beta Alanine to their pre-workout formulas. The only trouble with this is that they may not put enough Beta Alanine in the product to have the desired effect (and some don't list the amount they put in the product on their label) and many of these products contain lots of caffeine and other stimulants in their formula. The trouble is that you need to take Beta Alanine every day for 4 weeks straight to experience the full effect which means you will be cranked up on your stimulant-filled pre-workout drink every day of the week - even on training days! Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing but not everyone likes being wired on non-training days! I take straight Beta Alanine on non-training days to avoid this.
