Caffeine & Bicarbonate - Individuality is Key: Using Supps That Work for You Make a >90% Performance Difference

Caffeine & Bicarbonate - Individuality is Key: Using Supps That Work for You Make a >90% Performance Difference

bicarbonate caffeine cycling endurance ergogenic ergogenics NAHCO3 natural ergogenic performance sodium bicarbonate time to exhaustion

Right vs. wrong supps can make a victory or defeat difference of >90%.

I've written about the individual response to caffeine and bicarbonate before. To tackle both of these ergogenic supplements I can actually recommend, however, based on a single study that as just been published in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism is news. The study was conducted at the Derby University's Department of Life Sciences, Sport, Outdoor & Exercise Science (Higgins. 2016) and evaluated the effects of ingesting sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or caffeine individually or in combination on high-intensity cycling capacity.

In a counterbalanced, crossover design, 13 healthy, noncycling trained males (age: 21 ± 3 years, height: 178 ± 6 cm, body mass: 76 ± 12 kg, peak power output (Wpeak): 230 ± 34 W, peak oxygen uptake: 46 ± 8 mL·kg−1·min−1) performed a graded incremental exercise test, 2 familiarisation trials, and 4 experimental trials.

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Trials consisted of cycling to volitional exhaustion at 100% W peak (TLIM) 60 min after ingesting a solution containing either

• 0.3 g·kg−1 body mass sodium bicarbonate (BIC), 
• 5 mg·kg−1 body mass caffeine plus 0.1 g/kg body mass sodium chloride (CAF), 
• 0.3 g·kg−1 body mass sodium bicarbonate plus 5 mg/kg body mass caffeine (BIC-CAF), or 
• 0.1 g·kg−1 body mass sodium chloride (PLA). 

Experimental solutions were (supposedly) administered double-blind (which is difficult imho, because bicarb and salt taste different, but alas).

Figure 1: Tabular overview of the rate of perceived exertion (RPE_L = legs, RPE_O = overall cardiovascular strain | left) and blood pH over time (right) during the four trials (Higgins. 2016).

The first and most obvious effect of treatments (BIC) and (BIC-CAF) was a significant increase in pH, base excess, and bicarbonate ion concentration ([HCO3−]) compared to the CAF and PLA trials.

Another new study supports lower dose (0.3g/kg) bicarbonate for resistance training: The study was conducted by a Bachelor student from the University of Tempa. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether the ingestion of sodium bicarbonate (SB) pre-exercise improved athletic performance during resistance training (RT) and reduced fatigue in male college students. In the study, ,ale college students performed 1RM and endurance tests before their own individualized RT program 4 times a week during the 4 week study. The SB group produced higher increases in mean weight used in each of the 1RM tests (P < 0.05) compared to the placebo group. The SB group also produced a higher amount of repetitions in the IDP, LP, and LPD endurance tests (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference in each self-report scale (P < 0.05) between the SB group and the placebo group. "These findings suggest that the supplementation of SB prior to RT in college male students could enhance performance," (Indorato. 2016) the author concludes.

The effect on TLIM (time to volitional exhaustion) was unfortunately less obvious - for all three active treatments, by the way. When all subjects were considered, ...

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  A high amount of alkali in your diet could have general health and performance benefits | learn more

  there was a significant increase in TLIM for CAF (399; 350–415 s; P = 0.039; r = 0.6) and BIC-CAF (367; 333–402 s; P = 0.028; r = 0.6), but only compared with BIC (313: 284–448 s), yet not compared with PLA (358; 290–433 s; P = 0.249, r = 0.3 and P = 0.099 and r = 0.5, respectively), 
• there were no differences between PLA and BIC (P = 0.196; r = 0.4) or between CAF and BIC-CAF (P = 0.753; r = 0.1), and 
• there was no effect whatsoever on the rate of perceived exertion (RPE | Figure 1, left).

The "average" effect does yet not tell you the full truth about the potential ergogenic effects of caffeine and bicarbonate. Why? Higgins et al. found very large inter- and intra-individual variations, when they compared the individual treatments (see Figure 2, right).

Figure 2: Mean +/- SD (left) and individual (right) response to the treatments (Higgins. 2016).

Accordingly, the scientists rightly highlight that optimal supplementation strategies require individualization. Using supplements that work for you can, after all, make a performance difference of 81%, 92% and 63% (max. vs. min responders) for bicarbonate, caffeine and the combination of both (all values relative to T_LIM in the placebo trial).

Caffeine has many benefits, but also potential downsides you should know about to make an educated decision based on science and your individual response to caffeine | learn more

Fine. So shall I use bicarbonate and caffeine or not? I cannot tell you that. Why? Well, it depends on how you react to these proven ergogenics. The only way to find out is to testdrive both - on their own and together. Plus: A study investigating the maximal cycling time at 100% of your peak wattage doesn't tell you sh*t about the effects on your performance during other physical activities like resistance training (the study in the red box, does, though).

Luckily, the new study by Indorato is not the only one to show bicarbonate (example) has, just like caffeine, by the way (example), ergogenic effects . This doesn't mean that either of them will necessarily work for you, but it is a good reason to trial both | Leave a comment on Facebook!

References:

• Higgins, et al. "Evaluating the effects of caffeine and sodium bicarbonate, ingested individually or in combination, and a taste-matched placebo on high-intensity cycling capacity in healthy males." Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. (2016).
• Indorato, Daniel. "Enhanced Resistance Training Performance via the Neutralization of Lactic Acid with Sodium Bicarbonate." Student Pulse 8.03 (2016).

Cacao, Delicious + Ergogenic - Performance Up and Muscle Damage Down After 7d on 21g/d of Hershey's 100% Cacao

Cacao, Delicious + Ergogenic - Performance Up and Muscle Damage Down After 7d on 21g/d of Hershey's 100% Cacao

cacao chocolate CK cooper test ergogenic ergogenics LDH muscle damage natural ergogenic performance

Hershey's 100% Cacao, soon also available at your local GNC? If you look at the results of the study at hand, it does appear likely that a regular "food item" can compete with sign. more expensive sport supplements.

From previous SuppVersity articles you know that several studies have demonstrated the protective effects of cocoa consumption, due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. From the news and my critical evaluations of the study results, you do yet also know that (a) regular chocolate lacks most of these beneficial effects and that the effects have (b) often been hilariously exaggerated in the laypress. Furthermore, studies that probe the efficacy of cacao or high cacao chocolate on exercise performance are, unlike studies on its anti-oxidant effects (e.g. Berry. 2010; Davison. 2012), something in-between "rare" and "quasi non-existent".

In spite of its relatively small size (fifteen 15-18 year old soccer players), a recent study González-Garrido et al's latest study that examined the effect of cocoa consumption on the markers of muscle damage, oxidative stress and physical fitness in professional soccer players, is thus still worth being discussed in the SuppVersity news.

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Furthermore, the fifteen players (15-18 years old) were part of a case-control study in which the which subjects acted as their own control - a means of making the results more significant in spite of a relatively low number of subjects.

Table 1: Nutritional profile of 25g of the cocoa "supplement", Hershey's 100% cacao powder.

A study in which the researchers analyzed the biochemical parameters, markers of muscle damage and oxidative stress, and physical performance before and 24h after consuming 0.375 g/kg body mass of Hershey's 100% cacao powder in 300 mL water for 7 days.

Figure 1: Rel. changes (%) of markers of lipid and protein per-oxidation and anti-oxidant defenses (González-Garrido. 2015).

For the average study subject that was a dosage of roughly 25.1 g of cocoa per day - not exactly mass and certainly not enough to be afraid that the additional 162.5 kcal/day could have negative effects on your body composition, but obviously enough to trigger significant decreases in all the relevant markers of oxidative damage MDA + 4-HNE (lipid per-oxidation), carbonyl groups (protein per-oxidation), and improvements in all relevant markers of antioxidant defenses, i.e. GSH, TAC (increased) and thiols (decreased).

So what? Now the obvious question is: "Couldn't this impair the adaptation to exercise?" This question cannot be answered based on an acute response study, but with the acute increases in exercise performance (Cooper test, see Figure 2) and in spite of the significant reductions in CK and LDH (see Figure 2), which are usually interpreted as markers of muscle damage, this appears generally unlikely - yet not impossible.

Figure 2: Copper test (test of physical fitness | more) performance and creatine kinase (CK | more) and lactate dehydro- genase (LDH) levels after the 12-minute Cooper test before and after 7-days of supplementing with ~21g/d of 100% cacao powder (González-Garrido. 2015).

On the other hand, it is important to note that only the increased Cooper test performance (Figure 2), but none of the other markers has at least a non-significant predictive value with respect to the possible long-term effects on exercise performance - an effect that will have to be tested in future longer-term studies. A conclusion that would go beyond the scientists' statement that they "have shown the potential that cocoa consumption has on endurance performance and its role in recovery from muscle damage in athletes" (González-Garrido. 2015) would thus be unwarranted... as unwarranted as any speculations about the underlying mechanisms: yes, it is likely that the high polyphenol content of 100% cacao is what does the trick, but to prove that we'd need a low polyphenol chocolate control we don't have. If you want to benefit, though, I highly suggest to pick a 100% cacao powder with a low degree of processing | Comment!

References:

• Berry, Narelle M., et al. "Impact of cocoa flavanol consumption on blood pressure responsiveness to exercise." British Journal of Nutrition 103.10 (2010): 1480-1484.
• Davison, Glen, et al. "The effect of acute pre-exercise dark chocolate consumption on plasma antioxidant status, oxidative stress and immunoendocrine responses to prolonged exercise." European journal of nutrition 51.1 (2012): 69-79.
• González-Garrido, et al. "An association of cocoa consumption with improved physical fitness and decreased muscle damage and oxidative stress in athletes." The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness (2015): Epub ahead of pring Dec 02, 2015.