A Succinct Definition of Lactate

Lactate is a dynamic substrate with great potential as an energy source in sports drinks. To date, however, the efficacy of adding lactate to these drinks has been sparsely assessed [5,15,16]. Lactate was once considered a metabolic waste but is now recognized as an important energy substrate in the body. Lactate is the main product of carbohydrate metabolism and can be used as a fuel in working muscle cells shuttled to other tissues such as the heart where lactate is fuel [17], or to the liv...