Influence of Lemon Juice and Citrate on Blood Lactate Concentration after Exercise in Humans.

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the effects of intake of lemon juice or citric acid with glucose just after a 1-h exercise bout on concentrations of blood components influenced by exercise. Six healthy male subjects (25-30 years old) participated. After 1 h of exercise on a bicycle ergometer, the subjects drank lemon juice (0.4 g as citric acid/kg body weight) +glucose (1.5 g/kg body weight) , citric acid (0.4 g/kg body weight) +glucose, or glucose +g solution alone (control) . Blood was taken from the subjects just before exercise, and at 0, 20, 40 and 60 min (recovery period) after exercise, for measurement of the concentrations of blood components. Alterations in the concentrations of blood glucose, insulin, ammonia and urea during the recovery period after exercise were not affected by the lemon juice drink or the citric acid drink. The increased blood lactate concentration following exercise decreased gradually during the recovery period, and the rate of the decrease was promoted by the lemon+glucose and the citric acid+glucose drinks compared with the glucose drink. These results demonstrate that lemon juice and citric acid drinks promote removal of blood lactate after exercise.