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Re: [RC] baking soda for muscles? - Jon . Linderman





I am familar with the use of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in both human
athletes and race horses.  Race horses are "milk shaked" where sodium
bicarbonate is given via a stomach tube & because race horses perform at
near maximal speeds for nearly 2 minutes, they might well benefit from the
buffer effect due to very high levels of lactic acid in race horses.
Bicarbonate buffers the acid duringvery intense exercise, forming water and
carbon dioxide.  However, it is illegal in race horses and one trainer is
facing a $100,000 fine and suspension for his 3rd offense.

I did several human studies and published articles on the topic years ago.
The dose necessary to have an effect is 300 mg/kg bodyweight in humans.
Below that it is not effective.  Translated to a 1000# horse that would be
136 grams of sodium bicarbonate......yikes!  In addition, it is only
effective for short term high intensity exercise that lasts in a window of
approxiamtely 2-7 minutes, when blood and muscle lactic acid levesl are
very high.  It is of no benefit to human athletes in long distance events.
For example an ultra marathon runner I recently studied barely exceeded his
resting lactate levels while runnning 107 miles in 24 hours, and even in
marathon runners running abrisk pace (2:30-2:45) lacate levels are not very
high.  Even the notion that it might help during a prolonged sprint at the
end of an endurance event is dubious since the sodium load causes severe
gastointestinal problems that would hamper an athlete during an endurance
event.

To be brief, much of what we still tell people about lactic acid,
particularly concepts of day after exercise is, well, manure at best.  Most
texts rely heavily on work form the 1950's ignoring very sophisticated work
in humans, dogs, rats, and horses since then, using tracer technology (a
bit like "Enemy of the State"). IMHO from a physiological perspective, use
of sdoum bicarbonate in any endurance athlete is not beneficial and could
be detrimental.

Jon K. Linderman, Ph.D., FACSM
Assistant Professor of Health and Sport Science
University of Dayton
300 College Park
Dayton, OH 45469-1210
Voice:(937) 229-4207
FAX: (937) 229-4244
http://homepages.udayton.edu/~lindermj/




                                                                               
                                                          
                     DeborahHuebsch@xxxxxx                                     
                                                          
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ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx                                                        
                     Sent by:                     cc:                          
                                                          
                     ridecamp-owner@xxxxxx        Subject:  [RC]   baking soda 
for muscles?                                               
                     durance.net                                               
                                                          
                                                                               
                                                          
                                                                               
                                                          
                     04/22/2004 11:02 PM                                       
                                                          
                                                                               
                                                          
                                                                               
                                                          




Hi Guys

I'm lurker brought out of the shadows by a question.  I have a 9 yo gelding
who had 4 LDs before I bought him almost 4 years ago.  He had a stifle
injury soon after I got him home (he was born in TX and his body had never
known steep hills before), took a year off and has come back nicely.  I did
2 LDs in the fall and winter and his first 50 in Jan.  The problem, I have
noticed that after steep downhills (I usually get off and go down on foot),
at the end of a tough conditioning ride, at the end of a week of a total of
20-25 miles, his hind end gives out on downhills.  It feels as though he is
collapsing a little.  His muscles will recover after 5-10 minutes of flat
work.  I asked my vet (non endurance savvy) and he suggested MSG.  I asked
my chiropractor and he suggested a scoop of baking soda every day.  I had a
blood panel drawn on him and it was totally normal.  The thought is that he
has some lactic acid "thing" going on.  I have 2 other 50 milers currently
doing rides and they give me a good basis of comparison.

My questions are:  has anyone else encountered this problem?  If so, what
have you found?  What supplements work best?  What about baking soda?  What
about MSG?  He gets MSM every day and injectible glucosomine once a month.
BC2A has also been suggested, but it is prohibitively expensive.

He' s a neat guy and I'd love to have your
comments/suggestions/experiences.

Thanks.
Deborah (in S. Calif.)


============================================================
They're athletes! This is a partnership between horse and rider - we don't
have any jockeys out there, just pals and partners. We'd allow a rider with
a broken foot, a sore back and a nasty cold to compete - but we would never
let a horse in a similiar condition hit the trail.
~ Dr. Barney Flemming DVM

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