BJSM reviews: A-Z of nutritional supplements: dietary supplements, sports nutrition foods and ergogenic aids for health and performance Part 5.

Br J Sports Med. 2010 Jan;44(1):77-8.
 BUFFERS: SODIUM BICARBONATE AND SODIUM CITRATE; b-ALANINE AND CARNOSINE
The biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis has been of considerable interest for many years. We now accept that the fatigue associated with high rates of anaerobic glycolysis is caused not by the accumulation of lactate but by the imbalance between the rate of proton release and the rate of proton buffering and removal. It is 70 years since formal investigations into acid–base balance and exercise began. Some carefully controlled studies in the 1980s suggested that ingestion of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) could be effective in enhancing the performance of events such as an 800 m track run, via an improved capacity to buffer metabolic acidosis which then reduced or delayed the onset of the accompanying fatigue This topic remains of considerable interest with regular additions to the literature. The authors of the following brief reviews have a long history of involvement in investigating the ergogenic effects of buffers on athletes.