The Truth about Lactic Acid

Does lactic acid exist?
Does lactic acid cause muscle fatigue?

[@Madderthanjoker]

Didn't understand a word until he said mitochondria, bringing me flashbacks of middle school science class "T H E P O W E R H O U S "

[@Hypoz]

e of the cell

[@fannyalbi9040]

your house miss an E for Energy

[@NobodyCaresALot]

It's your body, you should know how E effects you! Lol

[@lordofthehounds2997]

Parasite eve ps2 rendered flash backs

[@shutyourlipsbuddy8346]

Leaving the e off made me pronounce it funnier. You made the right chouis

[@stewartwells8010]

That was so effectively explained and thoroughly broken down, I feel so enlightened lol. Thank you Dr.

[@ginaferraro1967]

I have been telling students about the misnaming of lactic acid for years. My physiology teacher explained this to my class back in 1999. Many times when I would mention this people would laugh at me, even my fellow teaching colleagues. In the following years a lecturer of New Mexico university also spoke about lactic acid misinformation during seminars for the Filex Fitness Convention. It amazes me that 25 years after I was first taught this, many people still believe the incorrect explanation.

[@Diogenes-II]

What is the correct explanation? Do you believe taking lactate as a supplement is beneficial?

[@Sheperdsdaughter]

Mom here, thank you for such a thorough and well explained process.

[@aliciabryan6297]

I know I am late to the game with this lecture but this comes from after a discussion I had with a prof today who mainly focuses his lectures on early 1980's papers. His lecture was all about lactic acid and I asked about whether he had heard the argument between whether lactic acid exists in glycolysis or not. However I could not find a lot of papers backing up what I had heard in a previous uni course in metabolism where my previous prof had stated the same hypothesis as Dr Mike (it is not present and we should stop referring it as lactic acid). Would be great if I could have some links to papers or authors on this topic.

[@NobodyCaresALot]

I'm interested in this as well.

[@broopnarain]

Yes please. References

[@solcoster8110]

Here is a reference, that was used in his explanation for why lactate doesn't exist in less than 2 minutes. journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physiol.00033.2017

[@dirkjordaan9044]

The entire lactic acid which leads to fatique is very outdated , lactate itself is a positive energy source.

[@aliciabryan6297]

@@dirkjordaan9044 yes my comment was asking if I can have references or links to different papers. I understand lactate acid is outdated but would love more papers on it

[@shantelleadeline6053]

Nice video. It's worth getting the oils from Weedborn, though.

[@icouldntthinkofagoodname7216]

People needs to blame it on something. I blame my muscle soreness when I exercise to my years of being inactive and being a couch potato. Lmao

[@nabilasyahidnaamelia9797]

Hi Doc, what an interesting explanation! Can you please provide us some links to references about this. Because this is such a new thing for me. Thank you!

[@Theiliteritesbian]

Ya out here in the real world your patient with liver failure will develop lactic acidosis - a high anion gap metabolic acidosis. You can't just act like lactate is good for them, or that the extra hydrogen on what used to be pyruvate is harmless. You must intervene to prevent an arrhythmia by raising the ph of the pt by whatever means makes most sense clinically. Then, you continue to respect the lactate by consistently checking the pts changing acid base chemistry. What makes your muscles sore is the process of anaerobic glycolysis. The cell will become acidic - primarily buffer out - but continued use under an increasingly acidic environment will cause cell damage and an inflammatory response. Your nerves activate/perceives pain via the presence of cytokines (IL-1 from TNF-a) and other subsequent immune responses. Your nerves are literally sending signals as the cytokine receptors on their cell surface encounters a concentration of cytokines sufficient to create adequate calcium concentration in the dendritic bulb. The issue I have with taking advise from youtube doctors is that most have about a 20% understanding of how the body works as a system, and without full mastery of the topic they just produce blaze half truth content. This topic is harmless, you are right but in part by chance, and having the general public use lactic acid as a way of conceptualizing how to avoid injuries and how to recover is ultimately much more helpful than harmful. But, hey these PTs do look a hell of a lot better than me with their shirt off. Source - look up any book or chapter on nocioception. I don't even practice this type of medicine and after 10 years I was able to quickly explain the above - remember you are who you listen to.

[@sarahconner9433]

Well said doctor! 👏👏👏.. I get into so many arguments with KZbinrs...I do virology

[@yassina-r6806]

So. Question. Would you say eating too much sugar causes more of a lactic acid burn and long recovery when your train and lift weights? If thay lactic acid burn is staying even after training, what is this a sign of? Nutrition wise. Thanks for your response

[@sarahconner9433]

@@yassina-r6806internal friction if muscle cells.... Bruce Lee did isometric training to eliminate d.o.m.es.....try drinking 12 oz water with a little 1/4 teaspoon baking soda.... Lower rep's little heavier...

[@RedEmpire36]

This is exactly what he is talking about - outdated information. Look up the studies yourself, there are many since 2015. Correlation versus causation. Just because lactate is high, does not mean lactate is causing the issue. As he mentioned, lactate may be high as a result of your body trying to use lactate to combat those issues.

[@rthomp62]

Your Dunning-Kruger-Fu is strong.

[@chancecarlton8403]

I like to respond to chit chat with: "Actually..." People really like that.

[@TheRealMorgs41]

So if Lactate is being produced to buffer the H+ ion ... doesn't that mean it will bind to the H+ ion and become lactic acid?

[@Arclor]

There would be an equilibrium of lactate and lactic acid depending on pH. A conjugate base (lactate) and a hydrogen ion would form a weaker ionic bond, not a covalent bond, so it's a reversible equilibrium. If you extrapolate his theory here, then once the pH gets too low (concentration of H+ gets too high), the fatigue of your muscles is going to paralyze or slow you down since you don't have enough lactate or other buffering molecules to keep up, and that will give your body time to produce more and finally get you moving again.

[@comradejames451]

I think stuart proposed in acid-base that the strong ion effect of lactate is what makes blood acidic, despite lactate being a conjugate base.

[@gnosisdespirit]

I need a deeper explanation. So what do you do to mitigate the soreness and maintain energy after a brutal workout?

[@IgnoreMeImWrong]

Have an apple.

[@melissachinnici]

​@@IgnoreMeImWrong literally read this eating an apple

[@dennisf1020]

Magnesium supplements. 90 percent of the population is deficient. I use to cycle up.to 200ks a day or play 2 games of soccer back to back thanks to it

[@manmeetsingh5479]

The liver only stores very important things in those ratios, lactate seems good.

[@locke2983]

When I spend long amounts of time sitting down, when I stand up and move my muscles get tense and sore.

[@mosxalpha2237]

How long does it last do you know?

[@TheLestad88]

Because the body is made to move. Your blood circulation and lymph circulation decreased and you get tense. We are not meant for being inactive.

[@Soumiliv7hk]

@@mosxalpha2237 yeah do u know?

[@twintyara6330]

If you never move your muscles will never hurt

[@bretts6861]

The main difference between aerobic and anaerobic respiration is the latter has no oxygen to accept the hydrogen ion. As a result, this task is left to the buffering system. When that system gets overloaded and blood pH begins to drop, is when it hits the fan and performance drops.

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

But oxygen is always present. It's the energy demand (intensity) that determines the rate of lactate production and anaerobic contribution to the workload.

[@phil4986]

Excellent brief explanation. Very well done, sir.

[@nolikeygsomnipresence270]

FANTASTIC video. Could you provide some sources I could read? Thanks.

[@nathalieaiad1672]

thankyouu that was really helpful you simplified the whole process! much simpler than the text book

[@TinCupChalice40]

Thank you for such an informative video of course you’re just one source may I ask where you got your information? and could you post the following links for further review of this new theory. Thank you doctor

[@drdanthelizzyman]

Partial story with the major omission of explaining the lactate shuttle.

[@leilakhch2985]

Actually we don’t think that is true!😀

[@kianas3944]

great!👏 I have been looking for such a video for a while.🤓

[@wendyhines-randle2666]

Fantastic lectures,please could you talk about haemostatsis and coagulation. Thanks Wendy

[@rebeccafurse]

Very interesting! Hadn't learned that before.

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

If this isn't 100% proven then this doesn't help me be able to work out longer now. I need a video that helps me now.

[@rthomp62]

Wish more "experts" would understand this.

[@railroadtrash09]

How about explaining how I can cure soreness from heavy workouts. Maybe if I dumb down the questions we can get somewhere

[@unknownthoughts369]

Ok but how do you speed up the removal of lactate. Or whatever is casing the painful soreness.

[@sarahconner9433]

Also internal friction of muscle cells during motion.... Isometric force will cause no muscle soreness

[@Nenad-ICXC-Shuput-GFAMMA]

Exactly

[@sarahconner9433]

All the B vitamins.... Called B100

[@asadkamran5687]

Very nice and basic explained quiet easy to understand

[@naviinfinitys4169]

Then why do textbooks contain the wrong information ? why has this lactic acid issue became so stubborn ? because really every textbook I have read, still has a line blaming lactic acid as source of muscle soreness and further says that methods like hot bath help because they reduce lactic acid concentration. Why have not textbooks corrected it in decades from the time this fact was discarded ?

[@vanhooligan7532]

I was taught that without cofactors like B1 and Magnesium, Pyruvate gets shunted to Lactate via LDH enzyme. One of the symptoms of deficiencies in either of these is calf soreness. Supplementing alleviates this by pulling Pyruvate back to TCA cycle thus reducing Lactate.

[@DrBayu]

Yes, I never read about pyruvate-->lactate --> mitochondria. Then H+ cause sore in muscle and mechanisms. Interesting, I need study it more

[@shirleymorales3161]

just wanting to know what to do about it ! Starts almost immediately now .

[@hussamalkhatib3093]

Could you please link the resource that you've used?

[@alvinkan3940]

I was going to ask the same thing, they were still teaching Lactic Acid last semester in Physiology!

[@michaelscarlett8977]

George Brooks is the most cited researcher in this field. Here is a nice summary from Cell Metabolism www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/comments/S1550-4131(18)30186-4

[@daudahmed2173]

@@michaelscarlett8977 Last month i had an infection and my Serum LDH level was about 1496 Which is a high number and i was feeling Burning sensation in my body but i felt good After treatment Now i still feel burning sensation in my body whats that cure even my All tests are In normal range like Liver and Thyroid etc

[@LiterallyZeni]

can you please link the studies you mentioned? Thank you

[@DRAWDAILYchannel]

Well if you think about it the word lactate is etymologically linked to milk which is also tied to calcium which is used to be acidify things.

[@Hartleymolly]

I get panic attacks at literally the most random times, after workouts. I was told my brain had more lactic acid, anyways, that’s my take because I have no idea what he said.

[@IgnoreMeImWrong]

Just like the acid your brain may not exist.

[@Jacob96wv]

Take B1

[@swatimahamuni861]

Video is amazing and very useful but I can't understand ur running English properly...! But anyway I understand a little bit and it was useful for me......! Love from INDIA 🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@WilliamDearthwd]

Bugs Bunny (voice of Mel Blanc): Stop! One more step and I'll blow ya up! This contains magnanese, nitrate, phosphorus, lactic acid, and dextrose! 😒 Doctor (voice of Mel Blanc): Ho ho ho ho! That is the formula for a chocolate malt. Hah hah hah hah! 😆 Bugs: 🤨 *drinks the mixture from the vial* Yum yum...I'm a better scientist than I thought! 😋 *sees the Doctor about to try and grab him* Whoop! *the Doctor flops to the floor as he runs off*

[@reptilesgamers00]

Reminds me of athlene x. I look it up to find everything I know was wrong! Do you think there is some benefit of eating not necessarily vegetarian diet, but a base pH food diet? If you eat a lot of acidic food when your body be acidic? I wondered if that would contribute to a longer muscle recovery period.

[@weylandyutani4254]

Thank you for informing me I'm wrong.

[@Alex-cw4xp]

Another amazing video!

[@marktytibayan4880]

Lactic acid is the acid part of any acid contain of glucose. For example eating mangoes or any yellow fruit that contain glucose....❤

[@zeeshankhan8461]

Great work

[@arsalansayyed7863]

HKSJ BSDK

[@zeeshankhan8461]

@@arsalansayyed7863 Bipin academy se behtar hai😅

[@DrMattDrMike]

Thank you so much 😀

[@charlieschattgen602]

What about the end product of the ECT. Doesn't it produce an h+ and oxygen binds with it to make a water molecule and if there is no oxygen present then the H+ will slowly get into the blood?

[@dcoughla681]

Hi Doctor Mike. I have 2 questions. 1. Does the food you eat have an impact on this cycle and, if so, what foods should an athlete eat & when prior to running? I find runners can assist their body with maintaining oxygen levels by upright posture & breathing in through the nose (nitric oxide released) and out of the mouth & having economy of movement. Stop drinking (sipping) water at least 1 hour before a race helps too as it prevents the liver acting up. Looking ahead keeps the body calm yet focussed (parasympathetic nervous system activated). I have tested these methods on athletes who run uphill. Do you know of any studies which discuss this?

[@vera2892]

Thanks a lot, this really helpful

[@RVILLA67]

Ok.. so now that we established we don’t know if lactase vs. H+ is associated with my muscle fatigue… the questions remains HOW TO DECREASE MUSCLE FATIGUE??

[@IgnoreMeImWrong]

Beetroot?

[@DeGarisJ]

If the acid being created is the potential cause for muscle fatigue and pain, could you potentially prevent this from happening by taking an easily absorbable form of calcium prior to exercise?

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

No. The acidity is a symptom of fatigue, not a cause.

[@Jdub0126]

You can avoid it by eating just fat and protein right

[@cliffcox7643]

Practical question.. How do I train to Use lactic acid as a fuel??

[@lets_go_birding9096]

Would be nice if you included references to this non-traditional view of cellular respiration.

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

George Brooks, University of California, Berkeley. Robert Robergs, Biochemistry of metabolic acidosis.

[@michaelkim3704]

hey doc i wanna read up on the journal that you are referencing from, could you leave a link to that? and plus, then how do we prevent muscle soar ? any good ideas? great explanantation anyways! it makes more sense that lactate is produced under both anerobic/aerobic conditions. just seems more natrual.

[@quepaso568398]

So what causes my debilitating burn/ fatigue under light load but not heavy load? I can run miles and miles. Entered multiple marathons. But a simple 10 step flight of stairs my quads burn and fatigue half way through that I struggle to make it to the top. At the gym I can curl 60lbs dumbells but struggle doing a set of 10 with 15lbs because of the burn and fatigue. It clears up within 10 seconds of stopping. Working out and staying active has been a part of my whole life. These symptoms have been present only within the past few years.

[@gidifihrer3966]

gonna need some sources to academic papers on this please.

[@nicholasparianos7949]

Excellent video, Doc. Keep up the quality content!!! SUBSCRIBED!!!!

[@moon_boogie]

THIS IS SO SO SO GOOD!!!

[@Iamalexisjoyy]

If lactic acid isn’t real, how is it in food products? What is it really then?

[@jdgatlin8813]

I feel like lactic acid goes straight to my low back. I get a pump just walking.

[@yuriventura2607]

I would love to read more about this are there studies that you could indicate?

[@renitagriffin6998]

Trying to figure out if H+ ions is the culprit for acidosis/muscle fatigue, how is molecular H2 supplements claimed to increase energy and reduce oxidative stress?

[@humanNumer1]

So what's going to happen immediately within a few minutes of no oxygen and just anaerobic respiration? Because so far you can read online about lactate or lactic acid poisoning the body?

[@sammu]

Holy crap you are one handsome man. Thank you for the info.

[@michaelprice3040]

I just want to know what makes me feel sick when I exercise and how to negate vomiting when working out.

[@tealenreus]

What happens to the pH during lactic acid fermentation?

[@itstheweather5859]

I had a horrible allergic reaction. Kettle chips Parmesan garlic flavor has lactic and acetic acid in these chips! My legs were in pain and I couldn't feel my feet. migraine, chills and throwing up.

[@DrMattDrMike]

😱

[@fishysaag]

what are your thoughts on the lactic acid, lactate debate

[@TODOMATIO]

Lactic acid "probably doesn't exist"??? And what happens if someone is on keto and theres no glucose? Now we don't have pirivate or lactate? Let me tell you I have LOTS of energy in the gym. My concern is I also fast twice a week and so I'm a little bit worried that I'm not recovering enough. But there's no way to know.

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

Stop following fad diets. The internet is full of quacks and bad science.

[@phsal5182]

useful info. thank you!

[@iManekiNeko]

MICHAEL PHLEPS

[@pixelmovieshorts]

If Lactate is neutralising H+ ions then what is the end product.😅

[@mooshethe4th745]

Isnt lactate an enzyme that digests milk???

[@corthew]

I don't care what you call it...I just want to get some cleaning done without having to sit down and rest every 5 or 10 minutes. This video was not helpful to those of us who experience this issue.

[@milo-qh7cv]

listening at double speed

[@buzzybeemee4254]

I always was told that lactic acid is so bad and I have been taking to much Magnesium Glycinate. I have to much pain in joints and muscles. I have nearly ruined myself. So I have bought vegan lactic acid powder and my joints and muscles are improving. 😀🙂

[@christwisted]

Can you expand on why you think magnesium was an issue?

[@yalobeko7978]

Thanks Doc

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

Thanks Doc.

[@sarahconner9433]

Then what causes the soreness Dr?

[@nigeldude]

Micro tears from the workout. The muscle will then repair itself and you become stronger.

[@savingpeace8452]

Will this be altered in someone who in high levels of ketosis? Not to encourage people to do the ketogenic diet because it’s a serious treatment with risks and benefits like any therapy or medication if the benefits outweigh the risks then it’s worth trying under medical supervision. I am on classic ketogenic diet 4-1 ratio for replacement of anticonvulsants that had worse risks for me in particular and I take a different anticonvulsant that was not quite effective enough for control of my condition it helps with that in conjunction with medication but I wouldn’t recommend it it’s better than the alternative for me but that’s only because my alternative treatment had more serious side effects than ketosis at this high level. I find that I get a lot of muscle pain and fatigue and the cold seems to help me recover from the soreness quicker so I can still walk the next day. I always walk around if I have muscle soreness because I was told that helps get the lactic acid out of the muscle and drink extra water to flush it out and eat more protein to encourage muscle repair I also find hot baths help later in the day but immediately after a workout they seem to actually make it worse. The cold does seem to help reduce the soreness for quite a while and help me recover quicker. But without my body running primarily on glucose will what your explaining be altered or will the body just break down muscle further to create glucose?

[@jeevesme]

We don't know. That's all you had to say. We don't know.

[@IgnoreMeImWrong]

Knowing why we don't know is important.

[@esaushahid9169]

This was a really good video

[@sanjaysable2006]

Doctor, I used to do extensive walking, recently have started weight lifting since couple of months, but started having muscle cramps in the calves, which now are quite severe and chronic, what to do? Is this because I almost stopped walking?

[@bhavanadwivedi4623]

But how is the lactic acid utilized by the body.?

[@vbgaming6203]

So glucose-high snacks help to increase glucose levels in the body to then turn into lactate to reduce muscle fatigue, so should people working out eat snacks with lots of glucose in before/during workouts? Edit: btw I'm not saying anything sugary, but stuff that's high in glucose, since there are many types of sugars

[@vincentjenei]

bruh, sugar IS gluose...

[@marinmarin9911]

@@vincentjenei sugar is sucrose, not glycose

[@kiab4148]

Mind blowing ❤️💪🏻

[@jcmontoni9596]

Where does the hydrogen come from?

[@ChaN-ks3ov]

What does fermented lactid acid do to your face? Please lmk. Thanks

[@candelarioluna1512]

What created the hydrogen ion? Does lactate combined with hydrogen ion become lactic acid?

[@Dudndbdjdn]

We don't know if lactic acid is real

[@clos19851]

Yes the burning is true

[@sammig.8286]

So, I learned that I can't trust science, because what we think we know scientifically keeps changing.

[@ventosx4068]

Sir, what is the optical activity of the lactic acid produced there + or -

[@kiab4148]

I had a question though after lactate came to mitochondria and became pyruvate again how would that become acetyl coA (and go to cycle) again? Since as far as I know PDH activity declines rapidly after the tense exercise, so it is confusing for me how we tend to decrease lactate during the recovery and how we have so much acetyl coA during recovery while PDH is not active…

[@purelocaldirectory8702]

happy with himself smile at the end there , baha!

[@hydrocosmo]

"man my muscles are sore from all that lactic-". "🤓actually we don't think that's true🤓" "....leave me alone dude"

[@cowboyrickpennyfeather]

I just wish I could walk more than three minutes without my muscles fatiguing. It is taking me 20 minutes to walk from my building parking lot. Is there hope? What can I do? Do I have Possibly have MS?

[@TimoNoco]

I hate to be that guy, and I know I'm late to the game, but do you happen to have a source for the outnumbering of lactate to pyruvate? I'd love to cite it in a paper I'm doing on lactate and muscular acidosis for biochemistry.

[@jono1457-qd9ft]

George Brooks University of California, Berkeley. Many research papers over several decades.

[@TimoNoco]

@@jono1457-qd9ft Cheers, thanks!

[@lindawillfindit]

Um.... what scientific articles/texts discuss this?

[@cathrynp3491]

Cold lactic acid cause an aortic aneurysm? it's 4.+cm; 5.+ is more cause for concern. I'm off 90% of sugar and grains. Do intermittent fasting.

[@dirkmoolman]

Ok, so do you cut sugar to stop the aches and pains ?

[@teemo8247]

Ok, but where does the hydrogen Ion come from then?

[@MeThePersonvWeThePrivileged]

Tx. Lol, that's one embarrassing moment at the gym spared. What about the other 999,999? Just kidding. Glad I looked around today.

[@tomprovan50]

would vitamin B1 be useful?