Past research has proven that sodium bicarbonate (i.e. baking soda) loading enhances performance in very short, very high-intensity efforts such as 800m races. This is because sodium bicarbonate acts as an acid buffer in working muscles and helps to prevent fatigue caused by muscular acidosis. But the optimal amount and timing of baking soda intake [...]

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The dairy industry has been pushing hard lately to establish milk as an alternative to the protein shakes and recovery drinks that exercisers and athletes often consume after exercise by funding lots of studies designed to prove that milk works just as well, or better. The latest comes of of Washington University and was published [...]

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Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan have published the results of an interesting study on the effects of moderate hypoxia (or a reduced-oxygen environment similar to moderate-altitude locations such as Boulder, Colo.) on fat and carbohydrate metabolism during exercise. As you probably know, some combination of fat and carbohydrate is burned at most exercise intensities. [...]

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Past studies have shown that the rapid weight loss efforts made in weight-limited sports such as wrestling and lightweight rowing have detrimental effects on performance. In a new study, researchers from the Laboratory of Applied nutrition investigated whether these effects could be reversed by a brief recovery period between weigh-in and competition. The study involved [...]

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The reinforcing value of food refers to the effect that eating foods has on how much one wants food generally. Research has shown that dieting and other forms of food deprivation tend to increase the reinforcing value of food, and that the reinforcing value of food is greater in obese persons than in normal-weight persons. [...]

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Researchers from New Zealand’s Massey University with too much time on their hands recently performed a study for which they undoubtedly had no trouble recruiting student volunteers. Ten lucky students were asked to perform 300 maximal eccentric contractions of the quadriceps muscles of one leg. Then half of them were asked to drink 1 g/kg [...]

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Researchers at the University of Birmingham, England, recently investigated the effects of branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation on muscle soreness after exercise. Twenty-four male subjects participated in an eccentric resistance workout designed to cause muscle damage. Half of the subjects consumed a BCAA solution before and after the workout while the other half consumed [...]

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According to the results of a new scientific review published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, JAMA, regularly drinking coffee, regular or decaffeinated, is associated with significantly reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, analyzed data from 31 previous studies that looked at associations between coffee or tea [...]

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Sports nutritionist Bob Seebohar has published a new book entitled Metabolic Efficiency Training. It teaches endurance athletes how to enhance their bodies’ ability to burn fat during exercise. Seebohar’s system includes both training and dietary methods that are intended to work synergistically to achieve this objective. It is also a periodized system, with different specific [...]

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Researchers at Canada’s McMaster University have lately been making good use of funding from the dairy industry. Most recently they conducted a study to investigate the effects of milk consumption on muscle mass, body fat mass, and body composition in women. Twenty women lifted weights five times a week for 12 weeks. Have of them [...]

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