Table 1 A summary of studies conducted in the mid 1980’s that reported an ergogenic effect of 0.3 g kg⁻¹ sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) supplementation on performance tasks lasting approximately −7 min

Wilkes et al. ‘83 [36]

University track athletes

800-m foot race

2:05.8 ± 2.1 (min:s)

2:02.9 ± 1.9 (min:s)

~2 %

Costill et al. ‘84 [40]

VO₂max: 4.8 L min⁻¹ (3.12–6.33)

5, 1-min cycling bouts (125 % VO₂max; 5th bout to exhaustion)

113.5 ± 12.4 s

160.8 ± 19.1 s

~42 %

McKenzie et al. ‘86 [38]

VO₂max: 3.83 ± 0.61 L min⁻¹

6, 60-s cycling bouts (125 % VO₂max; 6th bout to exhaustion)

74.7 ± 17.6 s

106 ± 6.9 s

~30 %

Gao et al. ‘86 [37]

Well-trained college swimmers (VO₂max: 4.3 ± 0.1 L min⁻¹)

5, 100-yd freestyle swim

4th bout: ~1.65 m s⁻¹

5th bout: ~1.64 m s⁻¹

4th bout: ~1.62 m s⁻¹

5th bout: ~1.61 m s⁻¹

~2 %

~2 %

Goldfinch et al. ‘88 [39]

Male athletes

400-m foot race

58.46 ± 2.49 s

56.94 ± 2.25 s

~3 %