Prevalence, implementation, and barriers of sodium bicarbonate supplementation in team sports
Study Details
This cross-sectional survey examined sodium bicarbonate use and barriers among 66 UK- and USA-based team-sport practitioners 🔍
Key Findings
📚 91% were aware of sodium bicarbonate as an ergogenic aid, most commonly through scientific literature
⚡ 87% believed it could improve team-sport performance, yet only 33% actually prescribed it
🏃 Among users, 80% prescribed it to improve performance, with smaller numbers using it for fatigue, recovery or fluid retention
🧂 The most common dose was 0.2–0.3 g/kg body mass, used by 60% of practitioners prescribing sodium bicarbonate
🥤 Dissolving it in liquid was the most common delivery method, ahead of capsules, topical lotion and hydrogel mini-tablets
⏱️ 85% administered it pre-match, while use during training, at half-time or post-match was much less common
🤢 The biggest barrier was GI side-effects, cited by 65% of practitioners who knew about sodium bicarbonate but did not use it
⚠️ Poor taste/tolerance, logistics, budget and club advice were additional barriers, while very few felt the supplement simply did not work
🆕 23% had not heard of any newer delivery systems, including enteric-coated capsules, hydrogel mini-tablets and topical bicarbonate lotion
🧴 Practitioners were most interested in topical lotion, despite evidence for its ergogenic efficacy remaining equivocal
🧪 The most requested future research was in real-world competitive match scenarios, followed by recovery
Conclusion
Overall, the findings highlight a science-to-practice gap: awareness and belief are high, but actual use remains low 📉
For team-sport practitioners, sodium bicarbonate appears underused relative to the evidence base; individualised dosing and better-tolerated delivery strategies may make pre-match use more practical ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42807269/
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