Does baking soda improve sprint and race performance?
Sometimes, a little. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Of the 10 small trials linked here, 6 found faster times or more power in races or repeated sprints, and 4 found no difference.
What the studies found
“during exercise consisting of repeated, short-duration sprints, power output was enhanced following the ingestion of sodium bicarbonate, (300 mg/kg body weight).”
“These findings, therefore, indicate that sodium bicarbonate can have an ergogenic effect upon 1500-m running.”
“water polo players should not expect substantial enhancement in intermittent-sprint performance from NaHCO3 supplementation.”
The details
- What the trials used
- Most used 0.3 g per kg of body weight, taken 1 to 2.5 hours before exercise. These are the doses studied, not advice on what to take.
- Who was studied
- Swimmers, runners, water polo players and healthy adults doing sprint tests, from recreational to elite.
Safety note. One trial found more stomach upset after bicarbonate alone than after bicarbonate mixed with a glucose drink.
Before you try it
If you take any medicine or have a health condition, ask a pharmacist or doctor before adding a supplement. This page doesn’t link to any product.
How we checked this
This answer comes from one finding on our site, and that finding has been re-checked: each linked study was confirmed on PubMed and read against the finding’s grade, direction and study count. We then read every abstract ourselves on 7 November 2026 and wrote the answer from them, then checked it against recent reviews; the quotes above are copied word for word. If the finding changes, this answer is hidden until it is checked again. How we grade.