I used Bromo-Seltzer for my state high school state meet in 1985--so I would not necessarily say it was a new way of doping. I think I got the idea from my brother who was swimming for Texas. The theory is to buffer lactic acid but I don't think it works (I'm no chemist, but the amount you would have to take to actually buffer would make you vomit--the little I took made me sick). The problem with these athletic performance studies is they have like five people enrolled and no real way to control for other variables.
It reduces acid, but do we swim better being on the alkaline side.
We will perform our best at a neutral ph. If we have too high a ph reading you will have an opposite reaction
This is really old news. I remember reading about baking soda about 10 years ago in some swimming magazine. It said the amount of baking soda you would have to take to make a difference would also cause some bad stuff coming out of the other end.
I also wonder if maybe it might not bring out something like the 'Westinghouse Effect." Trying something new or connecting one action to anohter causes more intense behavior. something that many say shaving also does.
The idea is certainly not new, but this article seems to indicate that many are still doing it and that some British researchers have performed testing to prove it's value. Of course, as Kurt said, the controls in this study are probably far from perfect.
