Acute Sodium Bicarbonate Supplementation in Athletes

The Effect of Acute Sodium Bicarbonate Supplementation on Buffering Potential Kinetics, Physical Capacity and Discipline-Specific Performance

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Supplementation; Sport
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: Sodium bicarbonate supplementation; Dietary supplement: Placebo treatment

Detailed Description

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 50
• Phase: Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Poland
  • Poznań, Poland, 61-871
    • Department of Sports Dietetics, Poznan University of Physical Education

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• written consent to participate,
• a current medical clearance to practice sports,
• training experience: at least 2 years,
• minimum of 4 workout sessions (in the discipline covered by the study) a week.

Exclusion Criteria:

• current injury,
• any health-related contraindication,
• declared general feeling of being unwell,
• unwilling to follow the study protocol.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sodium bicarbonate supplementation; Group taking oral SB supplementation in a different-dose regimen.	Dietary supplement: Sodium bicarbonate supplementation; Interventions: The experimental procedure for each athlete included an acute SB supplementation in a different-dose regimen in order to assess whether the dose affects the actual physical and exercise capacity (doses: 0.15-, 0.25-, 0.35- and 0.50 g/kgFFM (0.12-, 0.20-, 0.28- and 0.40 g/kgBM), respectively). SB (Alkala, SANUM, Poland) will be administered as dissolved form in a 750 ml of fluid (water + fruit juice). On testing days the SB will be taken before physical and exercise capacity tests session. Between the SB and PLA or a PLA and SB treatments, a minimum 7-day washout period will be introduced.
Placebo Comparator: Placebo treatment; Group taking oral supplementation with placebo (NaCl).	Dietary supplement: Placebo treatment; Interventions: The experimental procedure for each athlete will be included an PLA supplementation. Placebo will be administered in a form of 750 ml of fluid (water + fruit juice). On testing days the PLA will be taken before physical and exercise capacity tests session. Between the PLA and SB or a SB and PLA treatments, a minimum 7-day washout period will be introduced.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in anaerobic capacity after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	The Wingate cycling test carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes in discipline-specific exercise capacity after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	The discipline-specific exercise capacity tests carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of bicarbonate concentration in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Bicarbonate (HCO3-) [mmol/L] concentration analysis in blood carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of base excess concentration in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Base excess [mmol/L] concentration analysis in blood carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes of pH in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Blood pH (pH units) analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of lactate concentration in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Lactate [mmol/L] concentration analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of pyruvate concentration in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Pyruvate [mmol/L] concentration analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes in blood glucose concentration after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Glucose [g/dl] concentration analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes in hemoglobin concentration after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Hemoglobin (Hb) [g/dl] concentration analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of blood cells concentration in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Blood cells [mln/mm³] concentration analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of creatine kinase activity in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Creatine kinase [U/L] activity analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation
Changes of lactate dehydrogenase activity in blood after sodium bicarbonate supplementation and placebo treatment	Lactate dehydrogenase [U/L] activity analysis carried out at baseline, and after SB and PLA supplementation	Baseline and during 1 day of acute SB and PLA supplementation

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Poznan University of Physical Education
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Krzysztof Durkalec-Michalski, Prof., PhD, Department of Sports Dietetics, Poznan University of Physical Education

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 20, 2018
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 20, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 14, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 17, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): January 18, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 16, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 14, 2024
• Last Verified: May 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Physical capacity; Sports nutrition; Sodium bicarbonate; Exercise performance; Buffering potential; Biochemical markers
• Other Study ID Numbers: ULS00006

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Shared data will be exclusively related to the level of recorded indicators, without personal data. The data obtained will be attached to scientific publications, depending on the requirements of the journal.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No