Musculoskeletal Effects of Bicarbonate
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01475214. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Official title
Musculoskeletal Benefits of Bicarbonate in Older Adults - A Dose-Finding Trial
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
With aging, men and women develop a mild and progressive metabolic acidosis. This occurs as a result of declining renal function and ingestion of acid-producing diets. There is extensive evidence that severe metabolic acidosis causes bone and muscle loss, but the impact of the chronic, mild acidosis on bone and muscle in older individuals has not been established. In a recent study, administration of a single dose of bicarbonate daily for 3 months significantly reduced urinary excretion of N-telopeptide (NTX), a marker of bone resorption and urinary nitrogen, a marker of muscle wasting and improved muscle performance in the women but not the men. These and other data support a potential role for bicarbonate as a means of reducing the musculoskeletal declines that lead to extensive morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Before proceeding to a long-term bicarbonate intervention study, however, it is important to identify the dose of bicarbonate most likely to be optimal and to characterize the subjects who benefit most from it. This double blind, placebo controlled, dose-finding study will evaluate the effects of placebo and two doses of bicarbonate on urinary NTX and nitrogen excretion and on lower extremity performance over a 3 month period in 138 men and 138 women, age 60 and older. Changes in urinary excretion of NTX and nitrogen and in selected measures of lower extremity performance will be compared across the three groups. The safety and tolerability of the interventions will also be evaluated. This investigation should provide needed information on the appropriate dosing regimen for men and women and on the study population that should be enrolled in a future bicarbonate intervention trial to assess the long-term effects of this simple, low cost intervention on important clinical outcomes including rates of loss in bone and muscle mass, falls, and fractures.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT01475214
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Enrollment
- 244 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- potassium bicarbonate Dietary Supplement
- Inactive placebo capsule Other
Dietary Supplement · Other
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 60 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Dec 31, 2011
- Primary completion
- Nov 30, 2014
- Completion
- Jul 31, 2015
- Last update posted
- Oct 18, 2015
2012 – 2015
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University | Boston | Massachusetts | 02111 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01475214, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Oct 18, 2015 · Synced Sep 11, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01475214 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.