I see a lot of buzz about FLF’s ExoLactate product…supposedly a gel containing lactate. Recall in the past I’ve talked about exogenous lactate on this forum. Lactate as sports nutrition was first brought to market by the lactate master George Brooks in the form of ‘polylactate’ in the sports supplement Cytomax.
Let’s just be blunt: Cytomax sucked. Doses much to small to be ergogenic caused quite a bit of gastrointestinal distress. At least that was my experience. You just could not consume enough to move the needle without experiencing symptoms similar to mild appendicitis. And unlike dextrose/fructose consumption which can train the gut by actually making villi bigger, no amount of polylactate consumption seemed to train the gut.
FLF claim to have solved the exogenous lactate delivery issue. I suspect they are using sodium alginate similar to Maurten’s approach with carbohydrate and sodium bicarb ‘hydrogel’ delivery medium. For lactate, this makes even more sense…lactate transporters (MCT1) are more than an order of magnitude more dense in the large intestine than in the small intestine. So the further down the digestive track you can transport exogenous lactate in a protective alginate slime, the less gastric distress and the more lactate absorption you’ll see.
But I feel like I’ve done my time self experimenting with exogenous lactate. So, Dear Forum, here’s where you can pick up the torch! Anybody got an in to try one of these?
I mean…I’ve spent a decent chunk of change on stuff that didn’t work for me such as two months worth of Optygen HP - that was a waste. I’ve purchased some nitric oxide boosters - which I think works, but surely didn’t hurt, also some bi-carb stuff to the tune of $10 a pop which did work, also Nomio which I do benefit from. With all that said, as long is it’s in the same price range I’d plunk down some cash to see if works for me. Just depends on how expensive it is really.
Just as a novel idea, I’d give it a try. The entertainment value is probably at least worth 5 euro.
If it sounds like my attitude has changed a little, it has. I had HEARD that each sachet contained 40mg exogenous lactate. Based on my past experience with lactate, I’d rather be stabbed in the lower intestines with a rusty harpoon than swallow 40mg of lactate salts. No way in heck I’d do that.
But, but, BUT Exolactate literature says it’s 40g of CARBOHYDRATE and only 5g of lactate. Even 5g makes me nervous but coupled with sodium alginate I might give it a whirl. The idea of ‘transporting’ lactate salts to the large intestine by wrapping the salts in an alginate hydrogel seems like a pretty good one. Almost all the MCT1 transporters in the gut are in the lower intestine.
If you were a 200lb athlete you could do that with $1.30 calcium lactate (a quarter cup). That’s what they used in this paper, calcium lactate. But the cyclists in this paper consumed a whopping great amount of lactate compared to what you would get from one FLF gel. Even the L120 lactate dose would be ~2x the dose in an FLF gel for a 165lb rider.
You could experiment by adding the calcium lacate to the DIY Maurten mix recipe in varying amounts, I guess.
I’d probably give it a try when it becomes available if it has good reviews. Try it out on a few training rides and if it seems to make a noticeable improvement, tack it on for races or occasional big outdoor rides.
Back in the day, I’m talking about the late 90s a friend of mine that was a bit of a mentor and got me into cycling had a concoction that he used to drink. When I started doing it, I feel like it improved my performance. it was basically made up of Minute Maid orange juice that was calcium fortified with calcium lactate, combined with a packet of knox gelatin, and I one tablespoon of colloidal minerals. I may have to start drinking some of that OJ again.
I tried this this evening. 23g dextrose, 23g fructose, ~8g lactate in a DIY hydrogel. Took the whole gel during the warmup of a 90min threshold workout. Zero gastric distress during the workout. A hint of gastric distress about 20 minutes after the workout but nothing that was a disaster.
So you can at least do it. I don’t know that there was any clear performance improvement, but it’s at least possible.
Ive been looking into this the last couple of months. Sodium Lactate is another way to consume lactate, while also having hydration benefits.
5g of Sodium Lactate contains approx
1000mg sodium equivalent
4g of lactate
It is more soluble than calcium lactate, but mostly comes as a liquid solution rather than powder as it is very hygroscopic and difficult to stabilize as a powder.
Im yet to try including it in a drink mix, but the theory says that the 4g of lactate would do something!
Do you have a recipe/process for making your hydrogels that you’d be willing to share? I’ve tried a couple times to make a Maurten clone but its come out gross. I have an idea of what I did wrong but maybe you have it nailed down.
44g maltodextrin,
36g fructose,
1.5g pectin,
and 1.2g sodium alginate
I have in my notes that if you want to mimic the maurten gel instead of the marten mix you can use calcium gluconate instead of pectin, but I’ve never tried that. (0.07g calcium gluconate per gel)
For exogenous lactate the process is more of a hassle. The best approach remains an open-ended question! But definitely you can create lactate bobo & that’s effective at delivery but not convenient in a race. Also, I find an effective ergogenic dose is much higher than ~5g/serving that are on the market today.
Does exogenous lactate help? Yeah, definitely. If you can figure out how to deliver it to the right part of the gut.
Doses much to small to be ergogenic caused quite a bit of gastrointestinal distress. At least that was my experience. You just could not consume enough to move the needle without experiencing symptoms similar to mild appendicitis. And unlike dextrose/fructose consumption which can train the gut by actually making villi bigger, no amount of polylactate consumption seemed to train the gut.
