Effective muscle work is conditioned by maintaining the proper range of muscles pH, regulated by buffering systems, in which the main role is played by bicarbonates (HCO3-). For this reason, sodium bicarbonate (SB) is often proposed as an ergogenic agent, especially during high-intensity efforts. Until now the major limitation to SB supplementation has been the gastrointestinal (GI) side effects. There is also a lack of data of the individual SB-induced changes of buffering potential kinetics and its actual connection with physical capacity and discipline-specific performance. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of acute, different-dose SB ingestion on buffering potential kinetics, physical capacity, discipline-specific performance as well as changes of diagnostically significant blood biochemical indices concentration in athletes, in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.
The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of acute sodium bicarbonate (SB) and placebo (PLA) supplementation on buffering potential kinetics, physical capacity, discipline-specific performance as well as concentration of diagnostically significant blood biochemical indices in athletes, in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial.