Aidan:

Hello and welcome to episode 232 of the Ideal Nutrition podcast. My name is Aidan Muir and I’m here with my co-host Torwen Eerkens. And today we are going to be talking about sodium bicarb for athletes. So, we are going to start by talking about what sodium bicarb is, and that is simple. It is literally baking soda.

The product that a lot of people will have in their cupboards. But you can have capsule forms of this if you would like. As a little side note, which I think is going to be relevant for later, one gram of sodium bicarb has around 270 milligrams of sodium. If that is kind of meaningless for context, we are typically aiming, as an average person, for less than 2000 or 2300 milligrams of sodium per day. So one gram of sodium bicarb is 270 milligrams of sodium. Cool.

Torwen:

Cool. So, let’s talk about the proposed mechanism specifically for athletes. So during long periods of intense exercise, your muscles produce hydrogen ions in excess. Which leads to muscle acidosis and may contribute to fatigue. Extracellular bicarbonate, so dosing with sodium bicarb, can help to remove these H+ ions, maintaining the pH balance and supporting your body’s ability to then match the higher rates of energy. That delays the onset of fatigue and potentially allows athletes to sustain higher power output for those longer periods.

Aidan:

Super scientific there.

Torwen:

Dumb it down for us Aidan.

Aidan:

I like to, and it’s funny with this one because I know purists would be annoyed by that because of the technical definitions. Exactly what you said is the technical definition. Any exercise where you would, quote unquote, feel the lactic acid build up, theoretically sodium bicarb should help with that. It buffers pH and that’s a more technical way of saying it.

But if I was going to narrow it down even more, any exercise where you’re going all out intensity for between 30 seconds to around 12 minutes. This could be people who do 400 metre running events or any endurance activity that is less than eight minutes, or sometimes 12 minutes. I think this has huge relevance for sports like CrossFit, for example, based on that mechanism.

Torwen:

Yeah, and it’s consistently shown performance improvements of about two to three percent in these events that last 30 seconds to 12 minutes where you rely on that anaerobic glycolysis. So, track athletes, cyclists, rowers, swimmers, combat sports, even team sport players who perform these repeated sprints, this can have a positive effect.

Aidan:

Yeah, I think with team sports one thing I would consider as well is in certain sports, like ball sports such as basketball or soccer, I think it’s rare for people to go all out. Because there’s still a skill component, often people will leave a little bit in the tank. Whereas in something like CrossFit you’re absolutely just sending it for the entire event basically.

In terms of dosage and how to take it, I’d typically be looking at, if we were trying to optimise it, 0.2 to 0.4 grams per kilo alongside carbs and fluids two to three hours before exercise. Once again, if that does not mean too much to you. I’d say for an 80 kilo athlete this is around 24 grams.

You can see a logistical challenge here with capsules though, because if the capsule had one gram, and they often have a little bit less than that, that would be 24 capsules. So you can see why somebody might prefer to use the baking soda approach. They could mix it in with some water, drink that, it tastes kind of gross or whatever. And then have some carbs alongside that as well.

Torwen:

Yeah, it’s a lot of capsules, especially when you buy, I think, Sodibic. You can buy a hundred capsule pack and you are using a quarter in one dose. Potentially baking soda works better. I definitely think taste is a big thing as well for a lot of athletes. Are you going to feel okay having that amount of sodium bicarb, tasting that, and then having to do exercise. That leads us into the next point of what are the risks of taking sodium bicarb and what it can do in the body.

So, gastrointestinal upset is a huge risk. And time and time again, it has been shown in research that this is a pretty big issue. It can cause nausea, stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomiting in some people as well. Most likely that happens around 60 to 90 minutes post ingestion, which for most people is when they are about to compete. So, it is something that we need to test in training and almost build up to as well.

Aidan:

Yeah, exactly right. It is definitely something that needs to be tested in training and that is a very common side effect. So if we are now talking anecdotal stuff. There are a lot of positive athlete accounts where they very clearly notice a huge difference in that kind of lactic acid build up type of feeling. And then there is probably a small improvement in the actual performance, like that one to three percent.

Sometimes even more, sometimes people get more than that. But even amongst the people with positive experiences, there is still a lot of talk of their gut feeling terrible. A lot of people have talked about it as a bit of a conundrum where they have a 400 metre race in the finals of their event, they will take it and they will win, and they are like, it felt risky,

Torwen:

Borderline.

Aidan:

Yeah, and I’ve got thoughts on that with the dosage being quite high. I’m very curious, and I have not seen many anecdotal reports of this, about what if you took half to two thirds of the dosage. You might still get some of the benefits, just with less risk to the GI stuff, but I have not seen many people talking about that.

Torwen:

A few things to navigate those GI issues then, if we can make some practical recommendations. Obviously, like we said, starting low and testing that in training, maybe building up to that 0.3 grams per kilo dose. Taking it with sufficient fluid, at least having around 300 to 500 millilitres of water with your dose to make sure that there is a bit of fluid in your stomach there too.

Considering splitting the dose across the day. So, three to four smaller servings. And Aidan, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on how you would practically implement that with an athlete.

Aidan:

I haven’t tried it with people that way. I’ve honestly just done the full thing two or three hours before, but I can see the logic in splitting it up. I have seen people talk about it through the lens of also splitting it up over multiple days leading up to the event. Rather than just that big lump dose right before competing.

Torwen:

Cool. In terms of what the research has shown, like we said, the biggest benefits have definitely been seen in those short, intense bouts of repeated exercise. And there is a lot less clear evidence for longer endurance events.

Aidan:

And so, going through some studies, I was looking at some individual studies and, as I’m into running now. I’m on the running Instagram algorithm a little bit and I’m following some super scientific running coach type people. And one of them was putting up this post about how it is taking over running in that middle distance and below type of space. They were talking about this one study that I looked up afterwards as well where they had 1500 metre runners at a national level.

So really high level. The average improvement that they found was four to five seconds, which at a national level is pretty cool to get from anything. That is not a crazy improvement, but at a national level already, compared to placebo, that is incredible. They were making the point that it is taking over running partly for that reason.

But then also, anyone who is doing hard interval sessions, if they are obsessed with running and trying to be the best that they can be, you can make a bit of an argument that if you take this before your interval sessions you will go a bit quicker during intervals, create more of a stimulus. And that could then carry over to improve times on race day as well.

Then, if we go deeper into the endurance research in general, because I was very specific and individual there. There was a meta analysis that found the improvements came out as exactly the number you said earlier, it is a one to three percent improvement. At an individual level, some people will get a five percent improvement in times and others get less. If we go back to that GI distress, often the people who are getting less.

Or sometimes it has made their times worse. That is due to the GI distress. Research also looks promising for long term adaptations as well. If somebody was having it before interval sessions every week, there has been research measuring people’s lactate threshold. They found that people’s lactate threshold increased by more.

So, there was an eight week study that found a 24 percent improvement in those who were taking sodium bicarbonate versus a 15 percent improvement in those doing the exact same training program without it. The final thing I was going to talk about is research on strength performance. They found an increase in muscular endurance but not strength during low reps. Which is exactly what you would expect as well.

Torwen:

And I had exactly that as well. In terms of recovery, it really is not an area of emerging research yet. People say that it potentially makes a difference because you are able to buffer that acid down quicker, which potentially means that your muscles recover faster as well. Again, it is something that we need to see a bit more research in to make solid recommendations.

Aidan:

So, another little add on I am going to put in here. And I’ve been curious about this before, is how this is different to beta-alanine. Both of them work through buffering pH. I’ve tried both. I do take beta-alanine most of the year round and I never feel anything. I know the research is really solid on it.

I think it is one of the most underrated supplements out there for certain activities and stuff like that. But I’ve never felt a difference in the lactic acid build up. I have tried sodium bicarb and it was a very noticeable difference that I felt. Looking at the differences, from a performance perspective, actually beta alanine is probably even more favourable for improvement in performance.

Beta-alanine increases intracellular pH and sodium bicarb increases extracellular pH. The question I was wondering is, do they cancel each other out, or not so much cancel each other out, do they just provide no added benefit if you have both. Because they are working through different mechanisms, if anything, the research is supporting added benefits for using both. And this has been studied as well in terms of outcomes.

So it is cool to know that if you are taking one of these things, almost by definition you should probably consider the other one as well. Although I would point out beta alanine is probably a lot easier because you do not get the GI distress. Although you do get the paraesthesia and stuff like that, which is another thing worth considering too.

Torwen:

What about in practice then? We did have a chat off camera that it is actually not something that we often recommend to our clients. For me personally, I think it would have to be a certain type of athlete that fits into this category, who is looking for the one to three percent improvement in performance, to recommend sodium bicarb. What about you, Aidan?

Aidan:

So I think anybody competing at a really high level in events that match that description of 30 seconds to 12 minutes of all out effort should consider trying it. Albeit approaching it with caution. So, the reasons why I would hold off outside of those situations is that I would give it to somebody who is competing in that type of event, but they are not obsessed with trying to get as much as they can. I would hold off partly for the gut stuff, because as we said, it is actually super common.

That is a very frequently reported side effect. The other thing is the sodium content. Obviously it is in the name sodium bicarb, but it was not until I tried it myself that I really thought about this. Because I tried it myself, I weighed out a 25 gram dosage or something like that, and then I was really thirsty. I drank so much water over the next couple of hours. It is like that kind of thirst that you get when you finish a meal at a restaurant where you have had heaps of carbs and heaps of sodium. And you just really want to drink water.

It was like that, but more. Then I sat down and did the maths and I was like, how much sodium did I just consume. And I think it comes out as, I had it written down somewhere, I don’t see it, but I think it comes out as eight grams of sodium or something crazy. Athletes are typically at much lower risk of cardiovascular disease. They are much less likely to have hypertension. And, usually we do not care that much about sodium intake.

In some cases we are trying to get more sodium into people. I do not necessarily think it makes sense to go out of your way to have eight grams of sodium in one thing, let alone the food you are having. Most people would end up having more than 10 grams across the day. If you did this regularly, I think that is enough to be mildly concerned about, unless you are just trying to do the best you can in this sport and you fit that criteria.

Torwen:

And that makes sense. And again, just cycling back to how we would recommend taking it, pairing it with that carb snack and starting slower, just reiterating those things. Because if you are having gastrointestinal issues, is that going to affect your performance more than taking this and improving it will.

So that gives us a little summary of sodium bicarb for athletes. We hope you enjoyed this episode and, if you did, we would greatly appreciate it if you could leave us a positive review. Thank you.