Elite female athletes seeking a competitive edge may have found their answer in an unexpected place: baking soda. This finding challenges the supplement industry's focus on exotic compounds when a common household ingredient demonstrates measurable performance enhancement. A rigorous four-week trial involving 68 highly trained female basketball players revealed that sodium bicarbonate supplementation alone produced significant power improvements during high-intensity exercise testing. The athletes received either beta-alanine, sodium bicarbonate, both supplements combined, or placebo across multiple treatment groups. During Wingate anaerobic power tests, those taking sodium bicarbonate—whether alone or with beta-alanine—showed substantial increases in peak power output compared to baseline measurements. Notably, beta-alanine by itself failed to produce any measurable performance benefits, contradicting its widespread marketing to athletes. The sodium bicarbonate effect manifested at a modest 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight daily for just seven days, suggesting rapid physiological adaptation. This controlled trial fills a critical gap in sports nutrition research by focusing specifically on elite female athletes, a population historically underrepresented in performance studies. The bicarbonate mechanism likely involves buffering exercise-induced acidosis, allowing muscles to maintain power output during intense efforts. However, the single-study nature and sport-specific population limit broader applicability. While promising for anaerobic sports requiring repeated high-intensity efforts, these findings require replication across different athletic populations and longer supplementation periods before becoming standard practice recommendations.