6g or 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate can neutralise the acid we produce daily.
In studies, doctors use on average 0.3 g of bicarbonate per kilogram of body weight. This is equivalent to using 24 g for an 80 kg athlete. Hence, at the lower end of the scale we have 6 g per day and the higher end 24 g per day.
Nutrimuscle selects its manufacturers with utmost care. Rather than choosing a low-end basic bicarbonate, we opted to work with a German manufacturer, the Evonik group, which produces pharmaceutical-grade Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate in Germany.
Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate is therefore denser than many bicarbonates sold for winemaking.
This means that in equal amounts, there is more active ingredient in Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate than in others. So less is needed to achieve the same beneficial effects.
It's therefore best to reduce your dosage by about 1/3 compared to your former bicarbonate.
Using capsules means you don't have to suffer the unpleasant taste of potassium bicarbonate. On the other hand, they are only efficient for smaller doses. For stronger doses, it is more cost-effective to use Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate powder.
Bicarbonate is a salt that the body makes in order to fight against the numerous acid molecules present in the blood. Potassium bicarbonate results from an acid reacting with a base: it is one of the mineral salts that intervene in the body to regulate the osmotic pressure of the cells.
Since this natural bicarbonate production is too low to neutralise all the acid we generate, part of our bicarbonate has to be provided by our diet.
During training as well as during a diet, blood becomes acidic. Potassium bicarbonate helps to rebalance the blood pH. Muscle fatigue will then be reduced thanks to this stabilisation of the pH, which contributes to a better endurance.
Potassium bicarbonate intake prevents age-related bone weakening.
Regular potassium bicarbonate supplements are an excellent way to reduce the formation of stones because this buffering agent dissolves the constituent molecules before they crystallise.
For further details on the benefits of potassium bicarbonate, visit the Find out more section.
1. Potassium contributes to normal muscle function.
2. Potassium contributes to the normal function of the nervous system.
3. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure.
4. Potassium supports neurological function.
Powdered potassium bicarbonate:
Potassium bicarbonate in capsules:
Nutritional values per 100 g
4 scoops contain 6 g of potassium bicarbonate.
5 capsules contain 5950 mg of potassium bicarbonate.
| 100 g | 1 capsule | 6 g | 5 capsules | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proteins | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Calories | 0 kcal | 0 kcal | 0 kcal | 0 kcal |
| Energy | 0 kJ | 0 kJ | 0 kJ | 0 kJ |
| Potassium | 38,96 g | 0,48 g | 2,31 g | 2,40 g |
Potassium bicarbonate is a supplement that may be of interest to:
Prepare a bottle of water in the morning with your daily dose of Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate. Add sucralose to mask the taste of the bicarbonate. If you put fruit juice in it, be careful that it does not contain acid. If the baking soda and juice mixture starts to foam, it means there is acid in the juice and you have therefore destroyed some of the bicarbonate.
Take small sips throughout the day between meals and protein snacks, as soon as your stomach is out of protein.
Put Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate with (optional) dextrose or maltodextrin + sucralose in your training bottle. Take small sips throughout your workout.
If you are taking protein in the middle of your workout, allow a small window of 15 minutes. Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate leaves your stomach very quickly, making you can consume your protein soon after your last sip of bicarbonate. Then, wait at least 10 minutes after ingesting whey before you take potassium bicarbonate again. Use the belch assessment technique to determine if the protein has left the stomach.
Start with 500 mg of Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate per day. The goal is to prepare your body for Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate and for you to learn how to use it.
You can double your dosage (i.e. 1 g of Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate) the following day if all is well. If you don't have any problems, you can increase this by 500 mg per day. If you do have any digestive problems, reduce the dose to the level that was not causing any issues and stay at that level for a few days before going up again.
Synergies between supplements
Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate can be combined with the following supplements without any problems:
Adverse reactions between supplements
Avoid taking Nutrimuscle potassium bicarbonate with:
It's rare for consumers to have access to the names of the suppliers of the raw materials that go into the supplements they consume. However, this is essential to ensuring product traceability.
We have therefore listed all our suppliers for over 27 years.
This is also the case for Our pharmaceutical-grade Potassium Bicarbonate, which is produced in Germany by the German group Evonik.
The more acid we make, the greater our bicarbonate needs. As we will see next, athletes produce much more acid than average, because they consume more protein and contract their muscles intensely, which generates lactic acid.
Likewise, a dieter generates a lot of acid that must be neutralized in order to optimize fat loss.
Although baking soda supplementation is not essential for life, it can help you stay healthier, be stronger and more enduring, build more muscle and lose more fat.
Acid-base balance
Acidic blood deteriorates physical performance. This acid is felt by a muscle burn induced by the generation of lactic acid during intense muscle contraction. The more intense the effort, the more the muscles produce lactic acid, which suffocates them and therefore causes them to lose strength: this is muscle fatigue.
Our enemy in lactic acid is the acid, not the lactate part. It is the acid which decreases the strength of the muscles while the lactate part provides energy which increases endurance. When bicarbonate meets lactic acid in the blood, it neutralizes it and lactate production increases. The performance improves, because muscle fatigue will be less thanks to a stabilization of the pH.
Research shows that the higher the rise in bicarbonate in the blood following supplementation, the more performance improves (1). Ninety minutes before a set of thighs on a weight machine, men were given 300 mg of baking soda per pound of body weight; their strength increased by 8% and their exertion intensity by 6.5%. Intense performance as well as endurance can be improved with pH regulators.
The more weight you have to lose when you diet, the more weight you have to lose with pH regulation. In fact, the blood of an overweight person is naturally more acidic than that of a person of "normal" weight.
Acidic blood protects fat mass while an alkaline environment promotes fat loss. The problem is that calorie restriction mechanically lowers blood pH. Indeed, the energy deficiency causes a mobilization of fats from adipose tissue in the form of fatty acids which circulate in the blood. But they are not the only ones that make the blood acidic.
During a diet, the blood acidifies due to several upheavals:
• The massive release of (fatty) acids from adipose tissue;
• High protein diets, if they are the most effective, generate acid in the blood;
• Muscle catabolism intensifies, generating the arrival of even more amino acids;
• Reducing carbohydrate intake accentuates these phenomena;
• The level of bicarbonate decreases;
• The practice of cardio or weight training to increase calorie expenditure produces lactic acid.
Through these phenomena of pH drop, we find a mechanism for regulating the regime's self-control. Calorie restriction increases the acidity of the blood, which in turn reduces the effectiveness of the diet.
If our diet tends to be deficient in bicarbonate precursors, it is even worse on a diet, as calorie restriction reduces the level of body bicarbonate as our needs increase. In order to optimize fat loss, it is important to neutralize this excess acid through the regular use of potassium bicarbonate.
The bicarbonate neutralizes the acid and rebalances the blood pH, which produces three effects favorable to the loss of fat:
• It accelerates the mobilization of fats, a more alkaline environment stimulates the production of hormones favorable to fat loss. Oral intake of 2.5 g of bicarbonate three times a day increases the natural secretion of growth hormone (an anabolic hormone that causes fat loss) by 15%.
• It increases the use of fat as a source of energy as well as calorie expenditure. In both men and women, taking 160 mg of baking soda per pound of body weight once increases calorie waste by 10% and fat oxidation by 18% for 3 hours.
• It inhibits muscle and bone catabolism. The simple fact of raising the blood pH induces a redistribution of lean mass to the detriment of fat mass. In people in a fasting period, taking 12 g of bicarbonate saves 1 kg of muscle in 15 days.
For 3 weeks, men and women followed a diet providing only 400 calories per day. In the first week, some received 4 to 6 g of potassium bicarbonate, others a placebo.
On placebo, the blood became acidic; the pH fell from 7.42 to 7.38, the blood level of bicarbonate fell by 8.5%. These alterations were abolished by the bicarbonate. This resulted in less loss of calcium, potassium, and muscle protein.
Muscle wasting was halved. Instead of destroying muscle, the body took more energy from fatty tissue, increasing the effectiveness of the diet while reducing the incidence of side effects.
Prevention of kidney stones
About 15% of men and 8% of women suffer from kidney stones, a number that is constantly increasing. Besides a genetic factor, diet plays an important role in the formation of stones. There are three main risk factors in athletes:
• Protein intake is above average;
• Dehydration: not drinking enough for your needs increases the concentration of kidney stone precursors;
• Acidic urine facilitates crystallization of uric acid, which promotes stone formation.
Medical studies have shown that regular potassium bicarbonate supplementation is a great way to reduce stone formation because this buffering agent dissolves the constituent molecules before they even crystallize (5).
The potassium bicarbonate supplementation must be carried out in proportion to the quantities of proteins absorbed, not only to minimize the impact on the kidneys, but also, and especially to optimize the anabolic action.
Proteins are often accused of destroying the kidneys. What is it really ? The more protein you consume, the more acid your kidneys will need to remove. This additional work of the kidneys will have three consequences:
• The kidneys eliminate acid by increasing their production of ammonia. To make this ammonia, the kidney needs glutamine. Our glutamine reserves will therefore be weakened. And if glutamine is not present in sufficient quantity in the blood, the body will draw it from our muscles by accelerating the catabolism there;
• The increase in the level of ammonia is not without consequence either, because this toxic substance will induce general fatigue by a kind of blood asphyxia;
• The more acidic the blood and therefore the urine, the more likely it is to get kidney stones.
It's not so much the proteins that are involved; our distant ancestors ate much more of it than we do, which over the millennia has shaped our genetics.
The solution therefore does not go through a reduction in our protein intake, but through an increase in nutrients acting as acid neutralizers. The absence of alkaline elements opens the door to the deleterious effects of the acid. The diet is unbalanced due to deficiencies in buffering agents such as bicarbonate.
1. Potassium contributes to normal muscle function.
2. Potassium contributes to the normal function of the nervous system.
3. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure.
4. Potassium supports neurological function.
There are two main categories of baking soda:
Understanding sodium / potassium antagonism
Sodium and potassium are two essential minerals for life. For a long time, our ancestors consumed a lot of potassium, in particular thanks to the plants and the roots which they ate in abundance. It was more difficult to ensure their sodium intake. For hundreds of years, man has had to fight to ensure his supply of this vital mineral for him.
This scarcity of sodium in food explains why humans have developed a particular appetite for this salt. Today, manufacturers have understood this well: they abuse salt in all cooked foods in order to give good taste, at a lower cost, to foods that would otherwise appear bland. Often they even remove potassium. Our survival mechanisms are therefore turned against us since today we consume far too much sodium.
As our intake of plants rich in potassium has collapsed, the sodium / potassium balance has deteriorated dramatically, which explains the sharp increase in cardiovascular disease. Indeed, sodium induces hypertension by hindering blood circulation. Potassium counteracts these cardiovascular problems by facilitating circulation.
This explains why excess sodium increases the risk of mortality by 20% while a high potassium intake reduces them by as much. But the most devastating thing is the combined effect of the two, that is, an excess of sodium combined with a lack of potassium.
The greater the imbalance between sodium and potassium intake, the greater the risk of dying prematurely from a cardiovascular incident (2). The more sodium (table salt) we consume, the more our body eliminates its potassium, calcium and magnesium.
On the contrary, a diet rich in potassium, especially during a diet, helps to preserve bone mass by reducing excessive loss of calcium.
It would therefore be harmful to health to add a high dose of sodium by supplementing with sodium bicarbonate. Likewise, beware of most mineral waters rich in bicarbonate, as they contain sodium bicarbonate and not potassium bicarbonate. In addition, we are far from consuming enough potassium. Its regular intake promotes the health of the cardiovascular system by fighting against hypertension and water retention.
Thus, potassium bicarbonate turns out to be a much better choice for its supplementation. Also during diet, potassium bicarbonate is superior to sodium bicarbonate because sodium increases appetite and water retention.
