Sodium Bicarbonate - Discussing the New Trend in Sports Nutrition

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Dietary supplements are widely used in the athletic population, ranging from amateur to elite athletes. Products like caffeine, beetroot, and tart cherry have been heavily studied on their benefits in performance and recovery in a variety of sports - and as a result these supplements have grown in popularity due to their scientific backing. 

    Image source: https://thefeed.com/maurten-bicarb?page=skip


As someone who is interested in sports nutrition, and specifically strategic nutrition to benefit the performance of the endurance athlete population (i.e., distance runners, cyclists, tri-athletes, etc..) one fascinating product that I have been keeping my eye on is sodium bicarbonate. 


What Does Sodium Bicarbonate Do?


Sodium bicarbonate has been widely studied and used by various different athlete specializations such as endurance training, combat sports, swimming, and rowing (among many others) (Grgic et al., 2021). 


Its benefits are linked to delaying fatigue at the metabolic level. It is likely that it helps to shuttle lactate out of working muscles during exercise due to the creation of a concentration gradient that will push both H+ and lactate out of said cells (Grgic et al., 2021). 


Basically, sodium bicarbonate is acting as a buffer of acidity in your working muscles. A more acidic environment in your muscles caused by a large buildup of lactate = more muscle pain - sodium bicarb keeps your muscle environment more alkaline and give you a little bit of an edge on lactate buildup while you work out. 


Dosing


Dosing is recommended at approximately 0.2 to 0.3 grams per kilogram (g/kg) of an athlete’s body weight to observe performance-enhancing effects. 


Doses above 0.3 g/kg don’t appear to have any significant effect on endurance compared to the recommended 0.2 - 0.3 g/kg range - so more does not = better in this case. Higher doses of sodium bicarbonate are also associated with more tummy troubles (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) that could negatively impact the quality of your performance.


Available Products


What really peaked my interest and led me to read up on sodium bicarbonate was the Bicarb System by Maurten. 



Image source: https://thefeed.com/maurten-bicarb?page=skip


Maurten’s products are interesting in the fact that they utilize hydrogel technology that gelatinizes their products (i.e., carbohydrate gels) making these nutrients more easily absorbed and better tolerated when consumed mid-exercise. 


Like their carbohydrate hydrogels, the Bicarb System suspends the sodium bicarbonate inside of a hydrogel to allow for better absorption and tolerance of larger doses closer to exercise. 


Maurten’s Bicarb System is dosed at 0.27 g/kg, within the recommended range identified by research. They even have a calculator on their website that allows you to input your weight and will recommend a specialized bicarb system for you.  



-LL

References:


Grgic, J., Pedisic, Z., Saunders, B., Artioli, G. G., Schoenfeld, B. J., McKenna, M. J., Bishop, D. J., Kreider, R. B., Stout, J. R., Kalman, D. S., Arent, S. M., VanDusseldorp, T. A., Lopez, H. L., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Burke, L. M., Antonio, J., & Campbell, B. I. (2021). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: sodium bicarbonate and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 18(1), 61. https://doi-org.proxy.library.kent.edu/10.1186/s12970-021-00458-w

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