Are there any foods, minerals, or vitamins that help prevent fatigue-causing lactic acid?

By Selene Yeager

Q:Are there any foods, minerals, or vitamins that help prevent fatigue-causing lactic acid?

A: Oh, were it only that easy. Lactic acid is a necessary evil in the whole energy production cycle. It's your muscles telling you that you're not ready to be pushing it as hard as you are. The more fit you are, the less lactic acid you produce at high levels of exertion, and the better your body becomes at clearing it out. Your body also becomes better at converting lactic acid into energy, so it's really not all bad.

It's still no fun, though. So the science guys have been working on the diet-lactic acid connection for a while. No promises, but there's one easy step that might slow down its production: Eat more protein and fat (along with carbohydrate) the hour or so before your ride or event, suggests sports med and nutrition expert Marcus Elliott, M.D. "When we fed elite cyclists a pre-test meal and subsequent snacks of either all carbs or energy bars that contained 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat, the ones who ate the energy bars produced considerably less lactate during a four-hour trial," he says. No guarantee those results translate to everyday cyclists riding sub-four-hour events, but it won't kill you, either.

Some athletes who specialize in short-term intense events, such as sprinting and speed skating, take bicarbonate (baking soda) in a dose of about 0.15 grams per pound of body weight one to two hours before a competition. The soda helps buffer lactic acid and can improve performance in events lasting one to seven minutes. No expert I know would recommend that for cyclists, especially since it commonly causes "intestinal distress," and that never helps performance.

LACTIC ACID KILLERS

Low-fat cheese and crackers: 2-oz. low-fat cheese with about 8 whole-wheat crackers

Grilled Chicken Sandwich: 3.5-oz. skinless chicken breast, lettuce, tomato and low-fat mayo

Veggie Omelet: 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites with onion, green pepper and diced potato

Yogurt and peanuts: 8-oz. skim-milk vanilla yogurt, with a spoonful of peanuts

Hard-boiled egg and baby carrots: 1 medium egg and 6 carrots

From February 2000 Bicycling magazine