Should you try the supermarket supplement elite athletes swear by?

It’s a white powder that is, by some estimates, used by 80 per cent of elite distance runners. And according to a new study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, it can enhance performance by about 1.4 per cent.

When the difference between winning and losing, or getting a PB or not, is typically less than one per cent, it can be a game-changer.

But should we be trying bicarb soda (also known as sodium bicarbonate and baking soda) before our next big sporting event?

Baking soda for the win?Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

While it’s more commonly used in cooking, as a teeth-whitener and as a DIY cleaner when mixed with vinegar, it has been researched for its performance-enhancing properties since the 1930s.

“It’s a product we’ve had in our toolbox for a long period of time, and there’s been numerous athletes who have used it to support their performance outcomes,” says Associate Professor Gary Slater, an advanced accredited sports dietitian at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

In fact, it is an Australian Institute of Sport Group A supplement, meaning it is permitted and has strong evidence for use in sports.

However, the potential side effects of bicarb soda, which include gastrointestinal (GI) upsets such as nausea, stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, have made it a risky supplement for athletes – until now.

In a small new study, Swedish sports fuel company Maurten tested whether encasing baking soda (0.3 grams of sodium bicarbonate per kilogram of body weight) in a hydrogel capsule helped it bypass reactions with stomach acid and release straight into the gut. They found no differences in GI issues between the baking soda group and the control group, yet the baking soda group completed a 40-kilometre cycling time trial about 60 seconds faster.

It reflects the experiences of many athletes who have started using the supplement since it launched in 2023.

Canadian athlete Marco Arop believes it helped him achieve a PB and a silver medal in the 800 metres at the Paris Olympics: “That’s something we kind of experimented with, last minute. I figured if everybody else is using it, and it’s been working wonders.”

Marco Arop wins a men’s 800-metre semi-final at the 2024 Summer Olympics.Credit: AP

But it’s not just runners using it.

“It appears to be effective [in] not only endurance exercises but also resistance exercises,” says Professor Ken Nosaka, director of Exercise and Sports Science at Edith Cowan University. “I assume that many athletes (runners, swimmers, rowers, etc) used it in the Olympic Games.”

Previous studies suggested it is most beneficial in shorter, more explosive forms of exercise.

“It is pretty clear that Sodium Bicarbonate can improve high-intensity performance in the one to 10-minute range,” says Professor David Bishop, head of the skeletal muscle and training research group at Victoria University.

Why? Hard, intense exercise produces lactic acid, which changes our pH, making our muscles and blood more acidic and impairing performance. Bicarb helps to increase the pH, bringing the acid down so we can sustain higher output for longer.

“It can also help delay muscle fatigue in longer exercise up to approximately 60 minutes as shown in the study,” adds Michael Chapman, an endurance athlete and public health nutritionist.

While the benefits are there for elite athletes, the jury is out about whether we should try it before our next event.

For starters, it’s about $30 a serve for the Maurten product, and for a one per cent improvement, you’re better off sticking to caffeine, says Bishop. As for the $2 supermarket version, he says: “Supermarket bicarb is a lot cheaper but not as palatable and more likely to cause gastrointestinal problems.”

Slater adds that unless the event you are participating in involves anaerobic effort, we don’t produce enough lactate to need it.

“The high acid load comes with really intense exercise,” he reiterates. “If you go out for an hour or two-hour steady state ride, or you can still talk to people that you’re running with or riding with, you’re probably not going to get any benefit from it.”

And while a one per cent improvement matters if you’re elite, it won’t make much of a difference to the vast majority. For the general public, there are “many other key elements to focus on before touching this”, Chapman says.

Still, for those who are willing to put their GI to the test, Nosaka says several strategies can help mitigate the side effects.

“One is the timing of the ingestion – there are less side effects at three hours than one-to-two hours before exercise,” he says. “It is also better to take it in enteric-coated capsules.”

Experts also recommend trialling it before any major event and working with a sports dietitian.

“They can work with you to trial the product to assess potential benefit but also potential risk,” says Slater.

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