Discussion
dehydration, FM, MP, muscle hypertrophy
DEHYDRATION
Our results showed that BET significantly improved CF performance, which was the main outcome of the study. Specifically, BET increased the number of repetitions in all three rounds of FGB separately and also for total FGB score. There is only one other study of BET supplementation in CF [Even though BET improved CF performance, no significant changes were found in muscular power measured as PP, AP, and MP in the 30-s WAnT. Similar conclusions were made by Hoffman et al. [It should be underlined that the mechanism by which BET could have ergogenic potential is still not fully understood. An interesting observation that can be made based on our study is that BET improved 17-min CF test, but had no influence on anaerobic power in 30 s WAnT. This may indicate the possible application of BET. FGB is an exhausting test, in which athletes must complete as many repetitions as possible of each exercise in 1 min and then move right to the next exercise. The score in FGB is reliant on muscular endurance (performing multiple repetitions with low to moderate resistance). It seems plausible that BET may improve the ability of muscles to exert force, consistently and repetitively, over a period of time. Arazi et al. [One possible explanation of BET effect on muscular adaptations may be its influence on hormone concentrations. In our study, testosterone concentration increased after BET treatment; this is in agreement with previous studies [The physiological significance of the observed in our study 7% increase in total testosterone may be questioned. Although testosterone acts as an anabolic agent and exogenous testosterone treatment results in muscle hypertrophy [In contrast to the study of Apicella et al. [In our study, 3-week BET supplementation did not affect BM, FM, FFM, or TBW. The effects of BET on body composition have previously been measured by several studies, though with conflicting results [One of our hypotheses was additionally that T-allele carriers in the We also did not observe any differences between the two doses used in our study in terms of any outcome, which suggests that 2.5 g/d BET is sufficient to induce CF performance enhancement and increase testosterone concentration.Our study is not without limitations. First, we did not measure the folate status of our participants; this can have a major impact on the homocysteine methylation process, especially in T-allele carriers. Secondly, the duration of BET supplementation could have been too short to allow observations of any changes in body composition. Thirdly, we did not measure body water distribution and, since BET is an osmoregulator that protects cells from dehydration, supplementation could have an effect on the relationship between intracellular and extracellular water contents. Fourthly, the interpretation of hormonal data is limited by the fact that the measurement of total testosterone does not provide sufficient information. Future studies should also include free testosterone measurement, since it is the active form of the hormone.In conclusion, three weeks of BET supplementation may increase CF performance measured in the high-intensity FGB test, as well as total testosterone concentration. BET has no effect on body composition, muscle power in WAnT, or cortisol and IGF-1 concentrations. There was no evidence of a difference between dosages (2.5 and 5.0 g/d) and 