The latest on Caffeine

Written By Jenny Ives BS in Nutrition - PCC Athlete and Associate

The latest on caffeine as it’s everywhere. It’s even starting to appear in energy gels, bars, etc, but why? Well to start caffeine is a very popular pre-exercise energizer and is well known to help athletes train harder and longer. Caffeine acts as a stimulant to the brain, contributing to greater concentration and clearer thinking. There are numerous studies involving the use of caffeine for both endurance exercises and higher intensity exercises. The vast majority of studies conclude that caffeine does enhance performance by roughly 11%, making those hard efforts seem easier. However, it does appear that endurance athletes notice a greater benefit that those doing short bouts of exercise.

If you rarely drink coffee/tea then you may notice a dramatic caffeine boost likely due to your body’s little tolerance to caffeine’s stimulant effect. Interesting indeed was a study compared regular caffeine users to nonusers and it showed that nonusers lasted 8.5 minutes longer when biking very hard to exhaustion, as compared to when they had no preexercise caffeine. The regular caffeine users exercised for only four minutes longer when they had caffeine fix (Bell and McLellan 2002)

However, what is important to understand is that everyone’s body responds to caffeine differently, therefore don’t assume you will perform better with a caffeine boost. You may end up nauseated, coping with the so called “coffee stomach” or suffering from the jitters at a time when you are already trembling with anxiety. Also beware: a cup of coffee may help with bowel movement, however precompetition it may lead to transit complications. Experiment during training to determine if caffeine or plain water is your best bet.

Is Caffeine Dehydrating?

This is the common question, however according to Dr. Larry Armstrong, an exercise physiologist at the University of Connecticut, caffeine does not contribute to excessive water loss and is even ok in the hot temperatures (Armstong 2002). Interestingly enough, the military became very attracted to the physiological effects of caffeine on hydration among soldiers and heat. Moderate and high caffeine intakes were measured and there were no detrimental effects. A 24 hr urine loss with and without caffeine was very similar.

Should I get more Caffeine that I already get?

Although a cup or two of coffee before exercise may be helpful, more may have no effect. A study performed in 1995 showed that well-trained cyclists performed just as well with 350 milligrams as they did with 850 milligrams. What they found is that the second or third cup of coffee may do more harm than good (Pasman et al 1995). Small amounts of caffeine, such as those taken socially, may enhance performance, where high doses may be counter productive.

The Recommendations:

The target dose is around 1.5 milligrams per pound (3milligrams per kilogram) (Doherty and Smith 2005). For an example a 145 lb athlete they would need approximately 218 milligrams. Great, so what are my caffeine sources?

Source of Caffeine	Approximate Caffeine Content (mg)
Coffee-16 oz
Brewed, generic	275
Starbucks, brewed, grande	320
Dunkin Donuts	200
Decaffeinated, brewed	20
Other Beverages
Starbucks espresso (6.5 oz)	150
Espresso, generic(1 oz), shot	50
Hot cocoa (12 oz)	15
Tea-16 oz
Tea, brewed	175
Starbucks Tazo Chai tea Latte	100
Snapple Lemon, Peach, Plain Tea	42
Soft Drink
Mountain Dew(regular or diet)	71
Pepsi One	54
Mello Yellow(regular or diet)	53
Pepsi	38
Diet Pepsi	36
Coca-Cola(regular or diet)
Energy Drinks
Red Bull (8.3 oz)	80
Rockstar Energy Drink (8oz)	80

Information taken from CSPI 2007. Adapted from Nutrition Action Healthletter

www.cspinet.org

Many people drink a warm cup of coffee, not for an energy boost but because the warm liquid helps support regular bowel movement and helps empty the body before exercise. This could be the most justifiable reason for some people to include this beverage in their diet. However, as we all know if you are so tired that you turn to coffee for the stimulant effect to get you going for your workout, then you should probably be back to bed resting.