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The lactate paradox: a review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 June 2010

Miles F Bartlett  and
Robert A Lehnhard
Miles F Bartlett*
Affiliation:
Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Maine, Orono, ME04469, USA
Robert A Lehnhard
Affiliation:
Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Maine, Orono, ME04469, USA
*
*Corresponding author: miles.bartlett@umit.maine.edu; mbartlet@email.unc.edu
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Abstract

The phenomenon known as the lactate paradox has been a topic of heated debate since it gained worldwide attention following Operation Everest in the early 1980s. What began as the simple finding that blood lactate (blood [La]) for a given sub-maximal workload or VO2 following acclimatization to high altitude is reduced compared with sea-level values, morphed into a complex set of parameters that have been redefined several times in the nearly 30 years that the lactate paradox has been researched. Though several strong hypotheses have been proposed to, to date, no one hypothesis has been able fully to explain the lactate paradox. The goal of the current article was to bring together the most prominent studies done on the lactate paradox and illuminate the details brought forth by each. In doing so we hope to stimulate new hypotheses and research studies that will further our understanding of the lactate paradox.

Keywords

NADNADHlactatepyruvate dehydrogenasealtitudelactate paradoxexerciseglycolytic flux
Type
Review Article
Information
Comparative Exercise Physiology , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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