Lactic acid
172 sourcesIn Ray Peat's framework, lactic acid is one of the key markers of metabolic failure. While mainstream physiology treats lactate as a normal byproduct of exercise, Peat argued that chronic lactic acid production (even at rest) indicates that cells are relying on glycolysis rather than efficient mitochondrial respiration. This shift — from CO2-producing oxidative metabolism to lactate-producing glycolysis — is the essence of the Warburg effect in cancer and a hallmark of aging and stress.
Peat noted that lactic acid has the opposite physiological effects of carbon dioxide: it promotes inflammation, edema, calcium dysregulation, and tissue damage. Elevated lactate in the blood indicates that thyroid function, nutrition, or mitochondrial integrity are compromised, and addressing these root causes is essential.
Key Positions
- Lactic acid production indicates cells are relying on glycolysis rather than oxidative metabolism
- Chronic lactate elevation is a marker of metabolic insufficiency, cancer, and aging
- Lactic acid and CO2 have opposing effects: lactate promotes inflammation, CO2 reduces it
- The Warburg effect (cancer's aerobic glycolysis) produces excess lactate
- Thyroid hormone, adequate glucose, and healthy mitochondria reduce lactic acid production
- Exercise-induced lactate is temporary, but resting lactate elevation is pathological
- Reducing PUFAs and supporting thyroid function normalize lactate metabolism
Sources
172 items-
Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone.
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Progesterone Summaries
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Progesterone, not estrogen, is the coronary protection factor of women.
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Protective CO2 and aging
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Protective CO2 and aging
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RU486, Cancer, Estrogen, and Progesterone
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Regeneration and degeneration: Types of inflammation change with aging
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Rosacea, inflammation, and aging: The inefficiency of stress
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Salt, energy, metabolic rate, and longevity
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Serotonin, depression, and aggression: The problem of brain energy
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Sugar issues
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Suitable Fats, Unsuitable Fats: Issues in Nutrition
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TSH, temperature, pulse rate, and other indicators in hypothyroidism
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The Cancer Matrix
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The Great Fish Oil Experiment
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The transparency of life: Cataracts as a model of age-related disease.
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Thyroid, insomnia, and the insanities: Commonalities in disease
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To Your Health - Lita Lee
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Vashinvetala (formerly Pranarupa)
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Vitamin E: Estrogen antagonist, energy promoter, and anti-inflammatory
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Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging
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When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc.