I recently bought a Nova Biomedical Lactate Plus lactate meter from a fellow ST member and went to test it with some new strips yesterday. Every other test seemed to read low. What could be going wrong that almost every other test is low? In my limited experience with the meters over the years, I’ve never seen this.
With 25 watt ramps every 3 min, my test numbers went: 1.5 mmol/l, 2.1, 1.3, 2.8, 1.6, 3.8, 2.7 (at this point I called the test.) Also the low control solution seems to correctly fall within the 1.0-1.5 zone.
I have a lot of experience with lactate meters, I use them everyday for my job. I agree with the previous post about contamination. You need to make sure each reading is a drop of blood so it is important how you prick your finger. If your prick produces a stream of blood rather than a drop every reading is going to be bad.
The test does not make sense. So something is going wrong.
I would do two things, take a couple of resting lactates to make sure they make sense and then do something close to a sprint and test again a couple times. This will make sure that the meter is reading at higher levels. If that is working correctly, then the test should work. Especially since the controls indicates it is working correctly.
Also use soap and water before the tests. An alcohol pad will sterilize the test site but may not remove any lactate on the skin. You only have to use soap and water once and then use a damp rag to remove any further sweat from the sampling site.
Lactate is in sweat and saliva and accumulates on skin during the day so has to be removed prior to the test.
"The device, called the BSX Insight, will allow athletes, including runners, cyclists and multi-sport athletes, to determine their lactate threshold, a critical number for measuring fitness and determining optimum training levels.
Previously, lactate threshold could be measured only by taking periodic blood samples, usually performed in labs while the athlete rode a stationary trainer or ran on a treadmill. The BSX Insight instead relies on a device that straps onto the athlete’s calf and shines an LED light into the muscle. Based on the way the light is refracted, the device can determine blood lactate levels. The company claims its results are 95-97 percent as accurate as traditional tests."