Thursday, June 2, 2011

Point/Counter-point



Here's a quick read on lactic acid. Pretty different take on it from what I've read before, in terms of the science. I like the bit at the end about how coaches more or less got everything right, even if science hadn't quite caught up with in explaining WHY they were right. There's something to be said for good old trial and error.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition/16run.html


It seems that with any specific topic regarding our health and bodies, all we have to do is wait long enough and the generally-accepted thinking on it within the scientific community will change almost entirely. However, a lot of the essential truths of how to relate to your body and how to best take care of it have yet to ever change substantially. Soldier on.

2 comments:

JessiePants said...

Thanks for this, an interesting read.

J. said...

I'm not sure all scientists were as flabbergasted by this news as that integrative bio professor. I remember learning about the creation of lactic acid in our muscles during exercise when I took biochemistry, and that it can be recycled in the liver back into glucose. Sure, this occurs slowly, but the fact that conditioning allows muscles to adapt to low oxygen levels is not so groundbreaking. I think the author of this article merely sensationalized the whole thing to vilify "scientists," allowing readers to take faith in the mystery of their own bodies. Maybe that part's not so bad :)