lactigo vs pr lotion

Carnosine vs bicarb.

LactiGo vs PR Lotion: a carnosine gel vs a sodium bicarbonate lotion. Trials, dose, timing and cost per use — and why LactiGo’s trial is stronger.

By Keegan Smith · Coach educator · founder, RealMVMT · updated

Short answer

Both are rub-on buffers, but they use different molecules. LactiGo is a carnosine gel tested triple-blind on world-class rugby sevens players, with 5–10% more peak power than a menthol-matched placebo. PR Lotion carries sodium bicarbonate; in an independent trial it did not change blood acid–base balance, though repeated sprints were about 2% faster.

LactiGo and PR Lotion chase the same goal — buffering the acid that robs you of power in hard efforts — with different molecules. LactiGo delivers carnosine, the buffer your muscle already uses; PR Lotion, sold by Momentous, delivers sodium bicarbonate, the same thing athletes have long swallowed as baking soda. The strongest evidence sits with LactiGo: a 2025 triple-blind trial in world-class rugby sevens players, with a placebo containing the same menthol, found 5–10% more peak power across repeated sprints. PR Lotion’s best independent trial, in recreational team-sport athletes, found repeated sprints about 2% faster but no change in blood pH or bicarbonate against placebo, and its authors questioned whether the lotion gets bicarbonate across the skin at all. PR Lotion is cheaper per use; LactiGo needs far less product per session and has the better-controlled trial.

What is the difference between LactiGo and PR Lotion?

The active buffer. LactiGo is a gel of L-carnosine and magnesium sulfate, with 1.5% menthol in the standard version; PR Lotion is a lotion carrying sodium bicarbonate. Both go on the working muscles before training, and both exist because swallowing the buffer has problems — carnosine is broken down in the blood, and oral bicarbonate is famous for upsetting the gut.

LactiGoPR Lotion
BufferL-carnosine (+ magnesium sulfate)Sodium bicarbonate
FormatClear, fast-drying gel, 100 ml pumpLotion, 300 g bottle
Best trialTriple-blind, world-class rugby sevens playersDouble-blind, recreational team-sport athletes
PlaceboMatched for menthol (1.25%) and odourPlacebo lotion
Main resultPeak power 5–10% higher (authors’ summary)Repeated sprints ~2% faster; no change in blood pH or bicarbonate
When to applyAbout 45 minutes before30 minutes before (label); ~120 minutes in the trial
Amount per session10 ml per legTrial dose ~0.9 g per kg of body weight
Sport testingInformed Sport, every batchInformed Sport
Price$55 / 100 ml$34.99 / 300 g
LactiGo Performance and Recovery Gel with menthol, 100 ml pump bottle on a turf pitch
LactiGo Performance & Recovery Gel: $55 for 100 mL, about five sessions at the trial dose.

Does PR Lotion work?

The evidence is mixed. In the best independent test — Gurton et al. 2023, 14 recreationally trained team-sport athletes, double-blind crossover — PR Lotion made eight 25 m repeated sprints about 2% faster than placebo, but the gain in the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (7%) was not statistically significant, and blood pH and bicarbonate did not differ from placebo.

The authors concluded that PR Lotion “might not be an effective delivery system” for getting sodium bicarbonate across the skin into circulation. A separate University of Oregon study measured a rise in muscle pH after two hours with 40 g of lotion on each leg — but at rest, not during exercise. So for bicarbonate, the question of whether it gets in is still open.

Why is LactiGo’s evidence stronger?

Because of who was tested and what the placebo contained. LactiGo’s 2025 trial used world-class rugby sevens players — 1,452 international caps between seven of them — and was triple-blind: athletes, testers and analysts did not know which gel was which until the statistics were done.

  • The placebo had the same 1.25% menthol, so the tingle gave nothing away. Four of seven players thought the placebo day was their better one.
  • Peak power was higher on LactiGo: 1426 W vs 1270 W in sprint 7, 1433 W vs 1332 W in sprint 2, with the biggest single gain (11.4%) in sprint 10.
  • Independent: the University of Waikato, Hong Kong Baptist University and New Zealand Rugby, in a peer-reviewed journal.
  • The route is backed by absorption data: in racehorses, topical carnosine raised muscle carnosine about 35% within 30 minutes.
Sprint 2: 1433 watts on the gel, 1332 watts on placebo, 101 watts more. Sprint 4: 1347 watts on the gel, 1244 watts on placebo, 103 watts more. Sprint 7: 1426 watts on the gel, 1270 watts on placebo, 156 watts more.Sprint 2+101 WSprint 4+103 WSprint 7+156 W1200 W1300 W1400 W
Carnosine gelMenthol placeboWorld-class rugby sevens players, triple-blind, against a placebo with the same 1.25% menthol. The authors summarise the peak power gain across repeated sprints as 5–10%. Beaven et al. 2025, JISSN.

Which is cheaper per session, LactiGo or PR Lotion?

PR Lotion is cheaper per use on its label; LactiGo uses far less product per session. A $34.99 bottle of PR Lotion is 300 g and says 10–15 uses — about $2.33 to $3.50 each. LactiGo is about $11 a session at the trial dose, or roughly $7.50 on the 946 ml bottle.

LactiGoPR Lotion
Bottle$55 / 100 ml$34.99 / 300 g
Per use (label)about $11 at 10 ml per leg$2.33–$3.50 (10–15 uses)
At the dose its trial used20 ml — about 5 sessions a bottle~68 g for a 75 kg athlete — about 4 sessions a bottle
Largest size946 ml: about $7.50 a session—

The trial dose is where the gap narrows. Gurton et al. used about 0.9 g of lotion per kilogram of body weight — around 68 g for a 75 kg athlete, nearly a quarter of a bottle per session.

Athlete in a barbell front-rack lunge during a hard leg session
Repeated hard efforts are where the trials found the effect.

Can you use LactiGo and PR Lotion together?

Neither brand has tested the two together, so there is no evidence either way. The brand’s own FAQ notes that LactiGo contains no sodium bicarbonate and invites athletes who have used bicarbonate lotions to compare. If you want a clean answer for yourself, run the same session once with each and let your numbers decide.

Coach spotting an athlete holding a ring support during a group strength session
Apply 45 minutes out and it fits inside the warm-up you already do.

Which should you buy?

If you want the rub-on buffer with the best-controlled trial behind it, LactiGo: triple-blind, menthol-matched, world-class athletes, 5–10% more peak power. It is ready in 45 minutes, needs 10 ml a leg rather than a quarter of a bottle, and every batch is Informed Sport tested.

Try it on the session you care about most. The protocol page has the dose and timing, and the bottle comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Sources

  1. Topical carnosine gel improves intermittent high-intensity exercise performance in world-class rugby sevens players (Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2025) (opens in a new tab) PMC12427510

    LactiGo’s triple-blind, menthol-matched trial: the 5–10% peak power summary and per-sprint figures.

  2. Gurton et al. 2023 — Oral and topical sodium bicarbonate during team sport-specific exercise tests (JISSN) (opens in a new tab) pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

    The independent PR Lotion trial: ~2% faster repeated sprints, no change in blood pH or bicarbonate, and the 0.9 g/kg dose.

  3. Gibson et al. 2023 — Transcutaneous delivery of sodium bicarbonate increases intramuscular pH (Frontiers in Physiology) (opens in a new tab) www.frontiersin.org

    The resting study: muscle pH rose after 2 hours with 40 g of PR Lotion per leg, not tested during exercise.

Ready to try it

LactiGo Performance & Recovery Gel, $55 for with menthol · 100 ml. Informed Sport tested, 30-day money-back guarantee.

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LactiGo Performance and Recovery Gel with menthol, 100 ml pump bottle on a turf pitch
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$55with menthol · 100 ml · about 5 sessions

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