Welcome to yet another pre workout deep dive. Last week we looked through Beta Alanine, this week will be focusing on a compound that is usually paired with other supplements. This blog post will be a results focused analysis of Malic Acid with little to no focus on the bio chemical mechanisms of how it works, if a deeper dive into its mechanisms is wanted then I'll make one later down the line.
Malic Acid is found in nearly all pre workout suppliments, either as a stand alone ingredient or ionically bound to another ingredient. The most common two seen are L-citruline Malate or Creatine Malte. Ionically bonded means that the two ingredients in the dry powder are bonded, this bond breaks apart on contact with water. This analysis seeks to understand what it does and why it is included in so many pre-workouts.
What is Malic Acid.
Malic Acid is an extremely sour organic compound which is naturally made in our bodies when we break down macro nutrients (protein, fats and carbohydrates) into ATP during an incredibly complex series of biochemical reactions, this process is known as the Krebs cycle. Malic Acid is also found readily in the foods we eat, such as apples which are relatively high in the acid. [1]
What does it do.
We now know that it is made during the Krebs cycle, but not of its role and why it is often paired with other ingredients. During the Krebs cycle, Malic Acid is used to burn Pyruvic acid as a catalyst to increase energy production, which is the main potential avenue for greater performance output. [2] This has the potential side effect that it delays the onset of anaerobic energy production which has the byproduct Latic Acid that causes the muscle "burn".
Malic Acid also has other potential benefits but as this is an pre workout focused analysis I shall only mention them in passing. There is the potential of Malic Acid being cardio protective [3], good as a skin exfoliator [4], treatment of fibromyalgia and CFS/ME, [5] Mineral absorption [6] and in the reduction in kidney stones [7]
Forms of Malic Acid
On the market you will see either Malic Acid (L-Malic Acid) or DL-Malic Acid, the only difference between the two is the former is found naturally and the second is synthesised in a lab. From what I can tell there is no practical difference in how the body handles it.
Practical Applications
Endurance
It isn't properly understood or deeply studied yet, but initial studies into the how Malic Acid effects muscle stamina are promising. A studying involving swimming mice found that after 30 days the supplemented group had an up to 28.5% increased swimming time vs the non tested group. [2] A fairly significant increase, but its a single study done on lab mice. Until further research has been conducted on Humans this is fairly flimsy, though promising evidence on Malic Acids efficacy.
Unfortunately this is all I could dredge up from the literature on Malic Acid which wasn't used in conjunction with some other form of performance increasing supplement, like creatine or l-citruline.
Speculative Applications
As I mentioned in the foreword, Malic Acid has the potential to increase the time under tension of low weights by delaying the onset of Latic Acid build up in the muscle tissues. This has the potential to aid in a "body building" style hypertrophy plan. Anecdotally when supplementing with Malic Acid 3g over 8 weeks, employing GVT (German Volume training) which uses a lighter weight over 10 reps of timed 2:1 second(concentric : eccentric) of 10 sets, I found slight decreases of my perceived exertion on my working sets. Obviously this is an anecdotal result which should be taken with a very large portion of salt... more research is sorely needed here.
When to take
There isn't any evidence to suggest that there is an ideal time to ingest Malic Acid to gain the potential benefits of increased energy or endurance. Anecdotally I have found no difference between 30 mins prior or several hours prior over 2, 4 week trail periods.
Do I need to cycle
I could not find any evidence that your body stores Malic Acid upon digestion, so my assumption here is no, you do not need to cycle Malic Acid. In the international journal for toxicology report for Malic Acid it reports that over 24 hours found that 70%-91.6% of Malic Acid's byproducts from the Krebs cycle will be found in the expired carbon dioxide of rats. Suggesting that the Malic Acid is all but used up during a 24 hour period, this is likely exacerbated through exercise.
Dosing
Dosing Malic Acid has been a bit of struggle due to the lack of research involved in this compound, I based my serving size off the tried and tested pre workout formulas that have it generally based between 1g-5g. To err on the side of caution I based my own dosing at 3g which I will continue to do until further research comes out.
Side Effects
Malic Acid has been shown in mice to cause the following:
skin irritation
diarrhea
nausea
dyspepsia
Though the dosing for these where all well above 3g. The same report suggests that Malic Acid is safe for human consumption.
Considerations
As Malic acid has been shown to aid in mineral absorption, [6] I advice taking that into consideration when supplementing with Malic Acid.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day there is very little research in Malic Acid and its purported effects on physical exercise. At best we can only infer from the theoretical part Malic Acid plays in our bodies and make best guesses at the practical. Though the science is lacking, it is a very cheap supplement, I bought 1kg for only £8 which will last me for a great deal of time.
The cheapness of the product is why I suspect it is so rife within the supplement industry. By bloating products with Malic Acid they can make more efficacious products like Creatine or L-citruline to be in higher quantities than they are in reality, thus increasing their own bottom line.
I will continue to take Malic Acid while I have it as it is so cheap and likely has no adverse side effects at the dosages I am exposed to. Despite this, unless better research comes along I won't be in a hurry to replace it when I do eventual run out.
Parting Words
Thats it for this weeks pre workout ingredient deep dive. I do hope this has been helpful and answers questions about why this is so often included in pre workout formulas. If you have had any anecdotal experiences, please post them below for others to see when researching this compound. As always I am open to suggestions on what to look into in the next episode, however if non are offered I will be looking into Betaine.
I will happily answer any questions you have that I have not addressed here.
Until then, take care.