is lactate a peptide FAQ

Lactic acid is a chemical made by the body when it breaks down carbohydrates or glucose (stored energy) to use for fuel. It is produced by your cells when you use more oxygen than normal, such as during a strenuous workout. This happens most often in the muscles and blood cells but can occur anywhere in the body. What does lactic acid do in the body? When your body doesn’t have enough oxygen available to fuel its cells, it breaks down glucose to use as energy instead. This process creates lactic acid in the blood. Normally, the kidneys and liver filter out excess lactic acid and turn it back into glucose, which can be used as energy in the future. Lactic acid also spurs your immune system to repair and protect the body. Lactic acid that isn’t removed can become toxic to the body. High levels of lactic acid can decrease the pH of the blood and result in a condition called lactic acidosis. Without treatment, this can cause problems with your heart, organ failure, or even death.

It’s a simple blood test. Your doctor will draw blood from a vein or artery using a needle. In rare cases, they may take a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from your spinal column during a procedure called a spinal tap. Normally, you don’t have to adjust your routine to prepare for the test.

It’s a test that measures the amount of lactic acid (also called “lactate”) in your blood. This acid is made in muscle cells and red blood cells. It forms when your body turns food into energy. Your body relies on this energy when its oxygen levels are low. Oxygen levels might drop during an intense workout or when you have an infection or disease. Once you finish your workout or recover from the illness, your lactic acid level tends to go back to normal. But sometimes, it doesn't.

Lactic acid is an organic acid that forms when certain foods go through the process of fermentation. It’s often found in pickled foods, fermented soy products, salami, yogurt, and more. Food manufacturers add lactic acid to packaged food products such as bread, desserts, olives, and jams to give them longer shelf lives. Lactic acid is a good preservative because it can kill and suppress bacteria in food. Lactic acid also helps prevent discoloration and works as a gelling agent and a curing agent.

Generally, lactic acid is vegan because it’s made from or originates from cereals, legumes, or fermented vegetables. The main exceptions are lactic acid, found in fermented meat and dairy products, which are non-vegan.‌ But some food manufacturers may have used animal sources to produce human-made lactic acid. The only way to find out for certain is to ask the manufacturer directly.

Yes, lactic acid is good for you, even when it’s in the form of a food preservative. Although many food preservatives are unhealthy, lactic acid preservatives will help protect you from getting sick. It controls the pH, or acidity and alkalinity, to prevent food from spoiling. Lactic acid also improves your food’s taste. By controlling the acidity, it balances flavors in foods such as olives, cheese, canned fish, desserts, and carbonated drinks.‌ More importantly, lactic acid can boost the quality of your food’s nutrition. While the lactic acid added to desserts, canned fish, and carbonated drinks is not very healthy, the naturally produced lactic acid in fermented foods such as kimchi and yogurt offers a variety of health benefits by:

A few types of foods are high in lactic acid. Generally, any food produced through a fermentation process is full of lactic acid bacteria and other beneficial bacteria. These include but are not limited to:

Lactic acid is produced through fermentation, a process where yeasts, mold, fungi, or bacteria break down carbohydrates -- like sugar and starch -- into alcohol, gas, and acids. Fermentation results in food products high in lactic acid.‌ Fermentation can happen naturally. Yogurt and sourdough, for instance, ferment on their own. But in most cases, food manufacturers use a starter culture to begin the fermentation process.‌ A manufacturer takes these steps to create fermented foods: