It Worked: Pickle juice stopped my leg cramps(merged)

Thanks for the link Dubjay.

I believe in pickle juice too. Worked for me at Temecula in Jan. Just don't chase it with fruit punch gatorade. Bleeh!

 

Pickle Juice and Orange Juice....

 

It's actually the buildup of hydrogen ions, not lactic acid that causes cramps.

"The breakdown of glucose or glycogen produces lactate and hydrogen ions - for each lactate molecule, one hydrogen ion is formed. The presence of hydrogen ions, not lactate, makes the muscle acidic that will eventually halt muscle function."

But I think your theory is correct as to the interaction of acetic acid with the buildup of hydrogen ions.

 

lactate + hydrogen ions = lactic acid

so yes, the "acid" part is when the hydrogen ions pop off

I'm still not sure how the solubility of lactic acid is affected by acetic acid though...gonna have to look it up

 

Acetic acid molecular formula - C2H4O2 or HC2H3O2 (to emphasize the role of the 'active' hydrogen) Looks like a simple ionic bond to me.

 

This is a new one to me. I rarely ever cramp, and rarely drink anything but di-hydrogen oxide regardless of the ride. When I raced the Downieville all-mountain last year after the steady 8 mile climb followed by the Pauley creek baby head section on the XC course, I cramped up so hard in my inner thighs and quads that I had to stop and walk it off....cost me a couple of minutes.

I'll have to give the PJ a try if I go back this year.

 

I read somewhere that the acetic acid in vinegar helps your body make acetylcholine, which converts atp to adp, releasing the energy your cells use.
Muscle cells use glucose to make ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate) from ADP (Adenosine di-phosphate). When ATP is converted back to ADP (adenosine di-phosphate) the energy released by the breaking of the 3d phosphate bond causes your muscles to contract, Then glucose is burned to recreate ATP from the used ADP, and the cycle repeats. I think this is right from what i remember from biology (was a biology major but never finished, and my focus was botany anyway). If anyone here knows more about this than I do, please take me to school.
Of course, the salt and potassium in pickle juice helps too. my favorite cramp-blocker is salt & vinegar potato chips!

 

Im gonna go buy some pickles, maybe it will help my back?

 

The body produces alkaline (a base) as a natural buffering mechanism for the acid buildup. Since acetic acid has a low pH, maybe it just simply counteracts the increase in blood pH. Any chemistry majors here? Great thread, btw. I learn something new every day.

 

Found this from Vanderbilt U Physcology Dept.
http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/pickleJuice.htm​

Ok, sometimes you may sneak a sip of juice from the pickle jar. But could that seemingly worthless liquid, which often gets tossed into the trash when the pickles are gone, be the key to athletic endurance and avoiding debilitating leg cramps? Some anecdotal evidence says “Yes”! But what does science say? Before you get yourself in a pickle, let’s find out

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Pickle juice is the liquid substance used to give cucumbers their salty, sour taste. It is usually made of water, salt, calcium chloride and vinegar (acetic acid), and occasionally contains flavorings like dill or “bread and butter”.
PURPOSE
The use of pickle juice as a defense against muscle cramps first attracted headlines when the Philadelphia Eagles credited pickle juice with their cramp-free win over the Dallas Cowboys in the over-one-hundred-degrees Texas heat. Rick Burkholder, the Eagles’ head trainer, called it his “secret weapon.” Pickle companies (such as Mt. Olive Pickle, Vlasic Foods and Golden Pickle) claim that pickle juice is similar to an isotonic beverage and can prevent muscle cramps caused from strenuous exercise. Mt. Olive Pickle asserts that “an athletic trainer from the University of Northern Iowa” uses pickle juice to avoid muscle cramps in athletes. (http://www.mtolivepickles.com/Picklemania/PickleJuicePower.html)
Golden Pickle has even created a sports drink, appropriately named “Pickle Juice Sport.” Golden Pickle claims that Pickle Juice Sport has “approximately 30 times more electrolytes than Powerade and 15 times more than Gatorade.” (www.goldenpicklejuice.com). It is even endorsed by Dallas Cowboy Jason Witten.

RATIONALE

So how could this work? To begin with, let’s discuss the cause of muscle cramps. Exercise induced muscle cramps are caused by dehydration from exercising in hot weather and not drinking enough fluids. How could pickle juice help? When you sweat during exercise, you lose a lot of salt from your blood. These salts are also known as electrolytes. This loss of electrolytes can cause muscle cramping, especially in hot, humid weather. Cells in the body use electrolytes to maintain voltages across their cell membranes and to carry electrical impulses to other cells. In this case, these impulses are responsible for muscle contractions. Pickle juice has a very high salt, or electrolyte content. Therefore, drinking pickle juice before exercising could possibly provide your body with enough salt, that your muscles will not cramp.

SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS

Although there is an abundance of anecdotal evidence supporting the use of pickle juice as a method of preventing dehydration and muscle cramps, the is little scientific evidence supporting or refuting these ideas. Dale, et al. examined the effectiveness of pickle juice as a preventative measure for exercise-associated muscle cramps compared to Gatorade. This study compared the pickle juice from Vlasic Pickles to the carbohydrate sports beverage Gatorade. The two beverage samples were analyzed in a food-composition laboratory to determine the amount of salt, potassium, calcium and magnesium in each product. Pickle juice was found to have considerably more salt than the carbohydrate beverage. Dale et. al. concluded that pickle juice can be used as a remedy for muscle cramps. However, the study warns of the danger of ingesting large amounts of salt and suggests that athletes should dilute the pickle juice with a sufficient quantity of a hypotonic or isotonic solution. Two ounces is the suggested serving size of pickle juice.
Medical professionals believe that salt plays the major role in preventing the dehydration that causes muscle cramps, but it does not necessarily have to come from pickle juice. Kurt Spindler, the Director of the Vanderbilt Sports Medicine Center, suggests that athletes salt their food to avoid muscle cramps.

CONCLUSION

More scientific research is needed to determine the effectiveness of pickle juice as a muscle cramp remedy. If you are an athlete that does not like pickles, do not fret. It seems that you may be able to receive the same benefits by increasing your salt intake. But remember, there can be too much of a good thing. If you are on a salt-restricted diet, you may want to look elsewhere for a muscle cramp remedy.

I'm going to try it anyway.

 

Would relish give you the same results, what about ketchup?

 

If only beer could........oh hell, I'd drink the beer anyhow even if it didn't help me with anything. 8-[

 

Yep, got that...I teach chem.

My point was that someone mentioned that one acid (acetic) affected the solubility of another (lactic). That's what I'm not sure of.

If anything adding acid to acid will only make things...more acidic. So, the mechanism has to be something else.

 

I know there are some home brewers here. Beer with pickle juice......somebody needs to get on this. Short of this, you could try a verrrrrrry dirty martini.

 

Haha, everyone seems to know just enough here to be dangerous.

 

Just my $0.02 worth.. I was a skeptic about this whole pickle juice theory and really thought it was a load of BS... I have always suffered very painful cramps on rides with durations greater than 3 hours, unless its a totally flat road ride.. I have tried extra salt, bananas, sports drinks, gels, goo's, whatever, nothing really seemed to help.. This past week we rode Blackstar-Coal Canyon and I did not have any sports drinks, gels, or power bars for the entire 4 hour ride.. By the end, I was pretty much on empty, thankfully I made it back to the car. Well my cramps didn't kick in until I was at home sitting with my 4 month old child on my lap, then bam, nearly threw my little boy into the air. My quads and inner thighs were going into intensely painful cramping.. So I put my baby down, hobbled over to the fridge and searched for a jar of pickles. I had not seen any in the fridge, but was really desperate and wanted to test this theory. So there the jar was, way in the back, reached back in there and pulled out the jar.. Jar says dill pickles, the kind you put on hamburgers, they didn't look to bad, so I took two swigs straight out of the jar, pretty tangy, but it was nice and cold.. I then returned the jar to the fridge and to my surprise the cramps completely stopped and never returned, not even in the middle of the night.. So here's to pickle juice :beer: no scientific data supporting this, just worked for me.. Erik

 

Back in my "post" HS partying daze:beer:...we would get drunk and have weird contests....one night I bet a buddy to chug a bottle of ketchup...he did then challenged me to a raw egg...I did..this went back and forth for a LONG time and started to draw a crowd in someones kitchen(yes we didn't know the owner of the house[-X) we proceeded to try EVERYTHING in the fridge and cupboards....

on the drive home: :drunk:
he yells "PULL OVER.....NOW"
Dude what's up????
"I'm gonna be sick...I think I drank toooo much Pickle Juice"

I LMAO for soooooooo long....

to this day we still laugh about that night....

sorry for the hijack but atleast it was revelant to Pickle Juice..:wave:

 

Good alternative?

 

Yeah, I don't see myself drinking pickle juice or downing a packet of mustard either. I can't even order a burger with pickles or mustard on it.

 

Pickle Juice Sport claims 15x the electrolytes of Gatorade.

Why don't I just mix 11.25 scoops of Gatorade powder per 8oz h2o?

Hmmm... might need to bring a spoon...