Sodium citrate and upper-body sprint power in trained wrestlers
What it found
In 11 trained wrestlers, sodium citrate did not improve peak or mean power across four sprint tests simulating a competition day.
It did raise blood bicarbonate and pH and lower perceived effort.
What they found
Studies in people
Power output
There was no difference between the sodium citrate and placebo trials in peak power or mean power in any of the four sprint tests.
Blood bicarbonate and pH
Sodium citrate caused a lasting rise in blood bicarbonate and pH compared with placebo. Before the first test, bicarbonate was 25.6 percent higher and pH was 0.08 units higher; after the fourth test, bicarbonate was 39.1 percent higher and pH was 0.14 units higher.
Blood lactate
Right after the first test, blood lactate was higher with sodium citrate (16.1 mmol/L) than with placebo (13.7 mmol/L).
Plasma volume
The drop in plasma volume across the supplementation period and sprint tests was smaller with sodium citrate (-1.51 percent) than with placebo (-6.91 percent).
Perceived exertion
Overall, the wrestlers rated their effort as lower when they took sodium citrate compared with placebo.
What the authors conclude
“In trained wrestlers, CIT ingestion induces alkalosis, counteracts reduction in plasma volume, increases post-test blood lactate concentration and reduces perceived exertion, but does not improve PP or MP attained in consecutive UBISP tests simulating four wrestling matches of a competition-day.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that in trained wrestlers, sodium citrate causes alkalosis, counteracts the reduction in plasma volume, raises post-test blood lactate, and lowers perceived exertion.
- They state that it "does not improve PP or MP attained in consecutive UBISP tests simulating four wrestling matches of a competition-day."
How it was done
The authors note that a wrestling match causes severe acidosis, and they wanted to see whether sodium citrate would help wrestlers keep up peak and mean power across four repeated upper-body sprint tests.
Eleven trained wrestlers took either a placebo or sodium citrate at 900 mg per kg of body weight over a 17-hour supplementation period, in a double-blind, counterbalanced, crossover design. They then did four 6-minute upper-body intermittent sprint tests with 30-minute recovery periods between them.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This was a small study of 11 trained wrestlers, so the results may not apply to other people or other sports.
- The study only looked at upper-body sprint power on a simulated competition day, not at actual wrestling match outcomes.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- University of Tartu, Estonia
The paper
- Title
- Dietary sodium citrate supplementation does not improve upper-body anaerobic performance in trained wrestlers in simulated competition-day conditions
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Aedma M, Timpmann S, Ööpik V (2015). Dietary sodium citrate supplementation does not improve upper-body anaerobic performance in trained wrestlers in simulated competition-day conditions. European journal of applied physiology. doi:10.1007/s00421-014-3025-4PubMed 25327884DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error