Can Baking Soda Enhance Performance?

Where has Geezer been? He never knew that for years, as the Times of London reports, runners have sworn that taking a spoonful of bicarbonate of
soda (baking soda) helps them to keep going for longer. Now the Times reports on two new studies that suggest that the runners have it right. One study, conducted at Loughborough University and published in the June
issue of the International Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that swimmers
who took baking soda about one hour before a 200m event were able to shave a
significant time off their usual performances.
Another study conducted at the American College of Sports
Medicine (ACSM), showed that competitive runners also benefited.
What’s cooking with baking soda? The paper suggests that it works because during prolonged or intense exercise muscles produce large amounts of waste
products, such as lactic acid, that lead to soreness, stiffness and fatigue.
Because sodium bicarbonate naturally reduces acids, it acts as a buffer
against these performance-limiting by-products.
Read more in the Times of London.