Six healthy male subjects performed a treadmill running test to exhaustion at 95% V02max. The study was carried out after oral administration of a current sports beverage (P: placebo), glutamate (G = 5g), NaHCO3(S: sodium bicarbonate = 0.3g/kg body weight) and Na,citrate (C: sodium citrate=0.3g/kg body weight).

Arterialized-venous blood samples were drawn at specific times(pre-treatment, pre-exercise=90min before treadmill running, recovery 3min, recovery 15 min) and analyzed for pH and HLa (blood lactate concentration). Also, urine samples were taken three times (pre-treatment, pre-exercise, recovery 15 min) for pH.

The results were as follows:

(1) Urine pH at pre-exercise was highest in C and lowest in P (C>S>G>P; p<.00l).

(2) In blood pH, the highest was S and the lowest C at the pre-exercise (S>C>G>P; p<.001). The rates of recovery at recovery 15 min tended to be higher in S and C than in G and P.

(3) Accumulation of blood lactate at recovery 3 min was highest in S and lowest in G, even though there was no statistically significant difference.

(4) There was no statistically significant difference in anaerobic endurance under the 4 conditions. However, the exercise times to exhaustion in S, C and G were delayed 14.5%, 18.7%, and 6.7% compared to P respectively.

From these results, we could suggest that ingestion of NaHCO3 and Na3Citrate prior to exercise induces alkalosis and may affect improvement of anaerobic endurance, and may increase the rate of recovery from acidosis after exhaustion following high intensity exercise. Also, ingestion of glutamate may enhance anaerobic endurance, but may cause acidosis during recovery after exercise.