As our body ages the kidneys, liver and lungs age and lose capacity for waste removal.

1. The skin becomes less effective at transporting perspiration and wastes including acidic ones.
2. Our high protein and refined carbohydrate western diet is net acid producing and over the years pushes our bodies toward low grade chronic acidosis.
3. Exercise produces acids that waste must be removed or managed for optimum results.
4. Heavy exercise can exceed the body’s capacity to benignly control the acid and require it to activate its emergency blood buffers such as:
   1. Extracting calcium from the bones to neutralize acid in the blood (results in high Ca in urine and blood)
   2. Extracting ammonia from amino acids taken from muscles (muscle wasting which generates ammonia breath and ammonia sweat)
5. Osteoporosis is a real threat even for impact sports such as basketball or running and especially for a non-impact sport like cycling. Chronic low grade acidosis (blood pH near bottom of standard range of 7.35 to 7.45) contributes bone loss and the heavy exercise mentioned above exasperates this loss.

Importance of pH Balancing for Athletes:

1. Athletic endeavor generates excess acid in the exercising muscle areas. Thus basketball players loose more leg versus spine bone density.
2. This acid adds to the acid load of the body and can impede performance if it gets too concentrated. As blood pH drops (becomes more acidic), the oxygen carrying red cells tend to stick together into Rouleaux stacks reducing oxygen exchange.
3. Recovery is faster and cramping is reduced or eliminated in a body that is buffered against excess acid buildup.
4. All of the above issues are especially important for senior athletes but are still issues for all athletes.

Ergogenic Aids for Athletes:

1. Sodium Bicarbonate is the most common alkalizing aid and has a great deal literature. It really works but over half of the users have gastric distress problems. It is not really healthy to take 21 grams of bicarbonate and then exercise very hard. It is considered by most as an aid for anaerobic power. The other issue is 21 grams loads the body with 2.4 times the Daily Value of sodium (DV = 2400 mg).
2. Sodium tribasic phosphate hydrates are also taken and are found in some of the recovery drinks and sports supplements. Again they can have negative gastric side effects.
3. There are numerous other aids that are not primarily alkalizers. Here is a link to the US Ski and Snowboard Association pdf about ergogenic aids that gives a variety of choices: www.ussa.org/magnoliaPublic/dms/documents/2007-08/Nutritional-Ergogenic-Aids/Nutritional%20Ergogenic%20Aids.pdf
4. The best overview is as follows: Marc Silver, “Use of Ergogenic Aids by Athletes”, http://www5.aaos.org/courses/cam/cam1.pdf
5. Here is another reference to ergogenic aids that covers more compounds, both good and bad: http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/handouts/ergogenic_aids.html