Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to beta-alanine and increase in physical performance during short-term high-intensity exercise (ID 436, 1453, 1454, 1459), increase in time to exhaustion (ID 437, 438, 439, 683, 1452, 1455, 1456, 1459) and increase in muscle carnosine stores (ID 1457, 1458) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies was asked to provide a scientific opinion on a list of health claims pursuant to Article 13 of Regulation EC (No) 1924/2006. This opinion addresses the scientific substantiation of health claims in relation to beta-alanine and increase in physical performance during short-term high-intensity exercise, increase in time to exhaustion and increase in muscle carnosine stores. The scientific substantiation is based on the information provided by the Member States in the consolidated list of Article 13 health claims and references that EFSA has received from Member States or directly from stakeholders. The food constituent that is the subject of the health claims is beta-alanine, which is a naturally occurring dispensable amino acid in which the amino group is at the β-position from the carboxyl group. The Panel considers that beta-alanine is sufficiently characterised