Gastrointestinal distress, bloating, flatulence, nausea, upset stomach, and diarrhea; what causes these horribly uncomfortable symptoms other than classic food poisoning? Sodium bicarbonate, a supplement used by athletes to reduce the effects of lactic acid (an acidic solution in the muscle brought upon by exertion of a muscle) production on fatigue (tiredness). Why do athletes go to these extents to reduce lactic acid? Does it really help enough to endure numerous hours on the toilet later on?
Perhaps athletes were misinformed about the effects of sodium bicarbonate, after all its’ effects are subtle and minimal at best (providing only up to a 2% increase in stamina for events lasting from 1 -7 minutes). It is thought to neutralize the acid produced by the working muscles, except that most of the time when exercising, lactic acid is not the cause of muscle fatigue, instead, either hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) or low glycogen content (low carbohydrate stores) is more often the culprit. These can be prevented by eating a large amount of carbohydrates a few days before the workout and by simply taking an energy drink containing 4-6% glucose (sugar) during the exercise (a critical amount found in most sports drinks, any more sugar than 6% would cause an inhibitory effect). The only beneficial effect of sodium bicarbonate ingestion is that it has not been explicitly banned by the International Olympic Committee, although their policy on ‘doping’ does restrict any substance that could lead to a increased benefit to the athlete. Well, I don’t know about you, but to increase my time that minimally, there is no way I would suffer through stomach pains and commitment to a toilet for hours afterward. I would just rather train that much harder to reduce the amount of lactic acid produced by my muscles; after all, more endurance trained athletes have lower lactic acid levels at any intensity than untrained individuals.
Ingestion of other supplements are also very common to sports today; especially creatine. Creatine is typically taken with sugar to allow the transportation of it into the muscle (initiated by effects of insulin). It is thought to increase the amount of phosphocreatine, PCr, (a substance that provides the energy to working muscles at the start of exercise). Although muscles may seem to become enlarged as this supplement is taken, the resulting enlargement of the muscles is not due to anabolic effects (increase in muscle fibers); instead when the muscle absorbs the creatine, it also takes in with it a ton of water. The large muscles seen on an athlete after ingestion of creatine is actually due to the increased amount of water in the muscle, not due to actual increase in muscle size, therefore there is no increase in muscle strength with creatine supplementation. Once this water is lost, the muscle will go right back to the size it was before. The benefit associated with creatine has more to do with the availability of energy at the immediate onset of exercise, before any other system can take over. Creatine increases PCr by 5-15% depending on the athlete. This allows them to work a little longer without feeling tired, and as well, when the other energy systems do kick in, there will still be more PCr left over. However it takes a large amount of creatine to see these effects and the price of the supplement is surely not worth the almost negligible benefits.
Many supplements have been used over the years, and many have been found to have little to no positive effects. Although this may be true many athletes still try these in addition to regular training. It is important to become familiar with all the side effects associated with supplements being taken as many are extremely adverse and can lead to serious problems. All I know is that I would not take the chance of screwing up my body with any supplement, whether it could benefit my game or not!
