The Strange, Exciting Science of Lactate Gels

Early this year, I got a secret email. I felt like James Bond (though I doubt he sees a smattering of little hairs every time he takes off his Feed hat). I clicked on the links in the email, showing that I’m now old enough to fall for a phishing scam. But this was legit.

The secret? Lactate gels were already taking over the pro cycling peloton, and no one seemed to be talking about it.

7 months later, the rumor was that the Tour de France was dominated by athletes taking lactate gels (led by Team UAE and Tadej Pogacar, who were taking Enervit Lactate, though the exact use patterns are unconfirmed). Yomif Kejelcha took Santa Madre lactate gels to run the half marathon world record and a sub-2 hour marathon (subject to the same uncertainty). From Lab To Field released ExoLactate gels, which were apparently all scooped up by World Tour bike teams. When whispers of a new product rapidly become screams from the pointy end of human performance, it’s time to pay attention.

What’s going on? It’s time to dive into one of the weirder, cooler performance science stories I’ve ever seen.

Science History

I think we can dive in by tracing the paths of two researchers separated by 40 years. Way back in 1986, George Brooks published a review study called “The Lactate Shuttle During Exercise and Recovery.” The basic theory involved lactate being used as a fuel source that was transported between tissues in the body.

I love to think back to the 1980s and imagine how revolutionary that idea must have been. Lactate levels rise during hard efforts. You’ve probably heard of “lactate threshold,” the idea that when lactate starts to rise above the body’s capacity for clearance, hard efforts become unsustainable. The clear conclusion is that lactate must be a bad thing, and the goal is to keep it low. “Lactic acid” is a bad thing, right? RIGHT?

Brooks and others piloted a revolutionary idea. What if the lactate/pyruvate biochemical process acted alongside hydrogen ion-related acidosis to create the illusion that “lactic acid” caused fatigue? The whole time, lactate was a bodyguard, not a boogeyman.

Fast forward to 2026. My favorite modern researcher is Aitor Viribay Morales, a brilliant scientist who published some of the first high-carb studies. To me, he is the scientific face of the performance revolution that came from high-carb fueling. I may or may not have a poster of him on the ceiling above my bed.

Early this year, I heard that Aitor dropped some of his other roles (including working for pro cycling and running teams) to go all-in on exogenous lactate supplementation with his company From Lab To Field and the gel ExoLactate. At the same time, George Brooks and Inigo San Millan were making similar power moves into helping develop lactate-based energy gels for Enervit.

I had always heard that consuming lactate tastes like swallowing rancid motor oil, plus it breaks down too readily to be absorbed. There seemed to have been a breakthrough where researchers were able to make lactate stable and tolerable for oral consumption.

It felt like the moment in the movie when all of the animals start running in the same direction. If there’s anything I’ve learned from those movies, it’s RUN IN THAT SAME DIRECTION.

Lactate Overview

The basic theory is that exogenous lactate could have a couple of main purposes in the body.

First, it acts as a preferred fuel source for the muscles, heart, and brain. Lactate is shuttled across cell membranes and converted to pyruvate, which then fuels mitochondrial metabolism, along with some indirect mechanisms for conversion to glucose. This process could happen faster than carbohydrate oxidation (though the data is not definitive on exact time courses), and it stacks on top of carbohydrate oxidation given different transporters. On top of that, the sodium lactate formulations that are hitting the market may consume some acidity, acting as a buffer against acidosis reminiscent of bicarb, which has already taken over endurance sports.

Second, and perhaps most intriguingly from a long-term perspective, lactate may act as a signaling molecule. For example, lactate increases intracellular transporter MCT1, which studies indicate may enhance mitochondrial adaptation. Basically, exogenous lactate may upregulate signaling for mitochondrial biogenesis (along with gene expression, fat oxidation, and other theoretical pathways), but without the stress of hard training. I wouldn’t call it “exercise in a pill,” but anyone who works in this field can probably imagine a world 20 years from now where similar pathways are harnessed for the health and longevity of sedentary people, let alone elite athletes.

The icing on the cake might be how lactate can fuel the brain. Lactate crosses the blood-brain barrier, and it might change how the nervous system functions under fatigue. As I’ve done personal experiments, I noticed something approaching euphoria after hard, sustained efforts with lactate on board. Maybe it’s the master key to fatigue resistance and/or the placebo effect?

The Verdict

Now let’s throw the turd into the punch bowl: I’m still unsure. While exogenous lactate is being used in the cycling peloton, it hasn’t immediately broken containment for widespread use across sports for unsponsored athletes (based on conversations I’ve had). Pro cyclists also started using exogenous ketones during hard efforts right away, but that use has not proliferated over time (though the use of post-exercise ketones is still common).

Simultaneously, there aren’t tons of applied studies to back up the use of exogenous lactate. And the data that has been published or leaked shows mostly-positive-but-also-slightly-mixed results, rather than a definitive trend. However, these products are so new and the scientific process will likely lag by 2-3 years given the new delivery technology. There are hopeful pilot studies, and the mechanisms are promising, but it’s uncertain. And I could also see a world where it’s really hard to isolate the long-term positive impacts of lactate for adaptive signaling, so I’ll be looking more to the real world for the next few years.

So...yeah....all of those smart science animals seem to be running in one direction, and I’m here standing mostly still, tip-toeing in the same direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if a tsunami is coming. Heck, maybe it’s already here.

There are tons of open questions:

• How does lactate interact with bicarb, especially given that both contain sodium?

• How can it be used in a fueling plan, since it’s a big sodium dose?

• Is it most effective as a training tool, or a racing tool?

• What types of training days?

• Are there negative impacts of chronic exogenous lactate exposure?

• Will it turn me into an X-Man?

• Should I do anything about the little hairs in my Feed hat?

I’m personally trying it once per week on a hard cross-training day. I’ll report back with what I learn from my own experience and the experience of others.

Enervit’s Lactate Gel comes with 90 grams of carbs, so it basically acts like 3 gels in one (3 x 30g carb gels + lactate on top of it). It also has 2 grams of sodium, so be aware of how that may impact your electrolyte needs generally. I like to mix it with 1 liter of water spread out over 2 bottles.

There’s a chance we’re at the precipice of a new performance revolution. Or maybe it will all be a big wet fart. Given the scientists who have staked their careers on the future of exogenous lactate, I’d bet against the wet fart. But take it all with a grain of salt, because betting against wet farts has backfired on me many times in the past.