Lactate is essential to buffering the effects of a carbohydrate meal, study shows

Sly Saint · Sep 17, 2024

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lactate's role in the body, further refuting the notion that lactate is a sign of oxygen deprivation in the muscles.

In a paper published in February in the journal Nature Metabolism, Leija, Brooks and their colleagues showed conclusively that lactate is produced normally in humans after ingestion of carbohydrates. Lactate rapidly enters the bloodstream, even before glucose shows up. Far from being a toxic byproduct to be eliminated during hard exercise, dietary glucose is converted so rapidly to lactate that it preempts or shares top billing with glucose as the two main carbon-energy carriers in the body.

The results show that the rapid conversion of glucose to lactate, starting initially in the intestines, is a way for the body to deal with a sudden dose of carbohydrates. Lactate, working with insulin, buffers the appearance of dietary glucose in the blood.

Instead of a big glucose surge, we have a lactate and glucose surge after eating. And the more of it that is converted into lactate from glucose, the better it is to manage glucose. Lactate is a carbohydrate buffer."

George Brooks, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology

Brooks and his colleagues had earlier shown this to be true during intense exercise. The new study confirms that lactate plays the same role during normal non-exercise activity and resting.

"It's evidence to show that lactate shouldn't be associated with anaerobic metabolism -; that is oxygen-limited metabolism. It's just a normal response to consuming carbohydrates or to exercise," Leija said. "In exercise, lactate is utilized as the dominant fuel source. That's why your blood lactate increases as you exercise a little harder. It's not that you're making it as a waste product. It's getting into the blood because it needs to go to tissues that need it to continue their physiological performance."
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The lactate shuttle
Brooks has conducted human and animal studies for more than 50 years to investigate the role of lactate in the body, each study providing more evidence that it's not a toxic byproduct of oxygen-limited, anaerobic metabolism, which does not happen in the human body, he said. That assumption, however, has colored the way athletes as well as physicians have looked at lactate. Many physicians still perceive high levels of lactate -; often incorrectly called lactic acid -; in the blood as a symptom of illness that needs to be fixed with supplemental oxygen or drugs.

"Measuring lactate is one of the major things that sports medicine practitioners do. And now we understand what's happening," Brooks said. "Athletes are producing lactate all the time and clearing it all the time. And when they get to the point where they can't clear it, mostly by oxidation and making it into glucose, we know the person can't persist very long.

"I think this is so revolutionary. But it's really confusing to people. What was bad now is good. All the books are wrong."
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Journal reference:
Leija, R. G., et al. (2024). Enteric and systemic postprandial lactate shuttle phases and dietary carbohydrate carbon flow in humans. Nature Metabolism. doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-00993-1.

Lactate is essential to buffering the effects of a carbohydrate meal, study shows (msn.com)

Kitty · Sep 17, 2024

If that's real, it might explain something of the odd intolerance to simple carbs some pwME have.

I have to avoid them, because my muscles stop functioning properly after a carb-heavy meal. Whatever is turning them to lead is eventually cleared through urine, after which they work again.

Haveyoutriedyoga · Sep 17, 2024

Lots in there about the role of the liver, it is beyond my ability to understand!

bobbler · Sep 18, 2024

I like this sort of thing, only if to remind people that sometimes you do need to step back and realise a lot you think you know as sure is actually only assumed, in order to end up reconfirming it after walking through it all again. It's a healthy process to do every so often.

this just would make me want to dive into the historical papers about where the idea of lactic acid came from and how good was the actual science for that theory. or are there quite a few assumptions just based on what a court trial calls 'circumstantial evidence' such as 'the timing fits with the symptoms'?

which is a better starting point than we have for a lot of the ME research where correlation-focused stuff doesn't even make sure things are in the right order for causality to be confirmed.

I've cheated and googled and seen the AI bot bit and found the following

Too much lactic acid can cause lactic acidosis, a life-threatening condition
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How does this phenomena fit with the above theory/can it be 'rethought' to fit this new context/work with this new idea?

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Lactate is essential to buffering the effects of a carbohydrate meal, study shows

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