Acute Effect of Sodium Bicarbonate Supplementation on Symptoms of Gastrointestinal Discomfort, Acid‐Base Balance, and Performance of Jiu‐Jitsu Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to verify the acute effect of sodium bicarbonate supplementation on symptoms of gastrointestinal discomfort, acid-base balance and intermittent isometric handgrip test performance in Jiu-Jitsu athletes. Ten male (22.2 ± 3.9 years; 174 ± 0.07 cm; 74.5 ± 8.9 kg) jiu-jitsu athletes participated in this counterbalanced double-blind crossover study. Two protocols, a) supplementation with 0.3 g.kg-1 of body weight of sodium bicarbonate, and b) supplementation with 0.045 g.kg-1 of body weight of placebo substance, were employed. Gastrointestinal tolerability was assessed by the questionnaire. Blood samples were collected at three time points (baseline, pre-ISO, and post-ISO) to determine the responses of potential hydrogenionic (pH), bicarbonate (HCO3- ), base excess (EB) and lactate concentrations. The maximum voluntary contraction test and the intermittent isometric contraction test were also performed. As a result, none of the athletes reported significant gastrointestinal discomfort (p > 0.05). HCO3- , pH, and EB at the pre-ISO and post-ISO moments were significantly higher for the sodium bicarbonate protocol. Lactate concentrations were significantly higher for both post-ISO protocols (p = 0.000). There was no significant difference in the performance of the maximum voluntary contraction test and the intermittent isometric contraction test (p > 0.05). Thus, we conclude that sodium bicarbonate supplementation does not generate adverse responses resulting in gastrointestinal discomfort, and does not benefit performance yet promotes a state of metabolic alkalosis.

Effects of ergo-nutritional strategies on recovery in combat sports disciplines

“…Specifically, new loading regimen (100 mg/kg) that gastrointestinal symptoms could be avoided (31). Furthermore, another recent study with higher doses of Sb (300 mg/kg) also did not find any adverse events resulting in gastrointestinal upset (30).…”

“…Sample characteristics are shown in table I. The total sample consisted of 367 participants (n = 336 males; n = 31 females) (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35). All studies were performed using adult populations except 3 of them in which part of the sample was composed by underage participants (20,28,31) studies described the sample without specifying performance level (20,22,(24)(25)(26)30).…”

“…The sources about the recovery effect in the CS field were varied, and all of them were grouped into 4 general effects (Table I); i) vitamins and minerals for health maintenance and stress delaying effects (18-20,21); ii) carbohydrates for energy contribution and glycogen replenishment; iii) protein for muscle repair, homeostasis maintenance and effective supercompensation (26,27); and iv) ergogenic aids for the maintenance of an optimal state of metabolic alkalosis (28)(29)(30)(31)34,35).…”

“…Several studies have suggested that a specific dose of 300 mg/kg body mass of Sb increases the acid-base balance during the recovery process between CS rounds, which in turn facilitates a better predisposition for the subsequent high intensity efforts that are normally found in these sports disciplines (28)(29)(30)(31)34,35). Specifically, new loading regimen (100 mg/kg) that gastrointestinal symptoms could be avoided (31).…”

Nutritional Ergogenic Aids in Combat Sports: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Different plasma buffers have also been evaluated, including sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate [54,[59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. A load of 0.5 g/kg of sodium bicarbonate offered for 7 days [62] or an increasing dose ranging from 0.025 to 0.1 g/kg g/kg provided for 10 days [60,61] produced a dose-response relationship in terms of improvements in power (+13.7-16.0% [62,63]) and total work (+8.0% [62]), but mixed results in terms of blood lactate levels.…”