Effect of acid-base status on nutrition and exercise

mike

Perhaps this request should be directly addressed to @Susan_RD_101 since she did an exceptional infographic blog presentation on PUFAs, and I am no novice when it comes to lipids biochemistry!

Nutritional acid-base status has shown to definitely influence nutritional status. In a nutshell, perhaps what I am looking for is an elucidation of the PRAL dial metric that shows on Cronometer "Diary" page; this elucidation could be, for instance, presented in another Cronometer blog. We know, for instance, that coffee is acidic, how is it that it has an alkaline PRAL effect, or does it? Is it really true that bicarbonates is ergogenic?

Regards,

Susan_RD_101

Hi @mike !

This will be a blog in the New Year. I plan to focus on holiday eating and setting achievable goals for the next few blog posts.

The topic of acidity vs. alkalinity is a challenging one to address. It's not possible to alter the pH of your blood, but this doesn't mean that eating a more acidic diet won't have potential negative effects (for example, by increasing the potential loss of nutrients like calcium and magnesium in the urine).

Bicarbonate is absolutely an erogenic aid. I was recently at a Sports Nutr conference where an Olympic swimmer reported significant benefit from using bicarbonate. It's useful in sports that rely on ATP for energy, as it helps to buffer the production of lactic acid, which is produced from this energy system and causes soreness and fatigue in the muscle.

That said, bicarbonate results in SIGNIFICANT gastrointestinal effects. I really can't emphasize this enough. If an athlete ever wanted to use this, he or she should work with her sports dietitian months in advance to determine the best dose and timing.

Kind regards,

Hilary

@Mike, check out Susan's latest blog post on this topic! https://cronometer.com/blog/alkaline-diet/