Critique of an article from the Journal of Applied Physiology

About 80% of American adults consume 200 mg of caffeine a day. “A 12-oz. (tall) coffee from Starbucks will run you about 260 mg, while a 14-oz. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee contains 178 mg.” The daily intake of caffeine differed between products; one should always check the amount before consumption. There are no limits on how many energy drinks a person can purchase, which make it easy to abuse. Especially in younger children the addiction rate outstandingly high. Which may lead to other drug usage in the future and the committal dependence on stronger drugs.

According to the results, the columns of caffeine in figure 1, of this experiment the hypothesis for caffeine is partially accepted. There is an increasing trend in the change of pulsation rates with increasing

(Graham, 1998) This shows the importance of caffeine in endurance sports such as cycling, running, and soccer which require a great deal of physical stamina in order to compete successfully. Studies also show that caffeine has very little affect on athletes requiring quick burst of energy such as sprinters and swimmers. Also caffeine has been known to decrease fatigue in athletes, which plays a physical as well as psychological role in the performance of an athlete.

This study targets the physical effect of caffeinated energy drinks on athletes, in both genders, in team sports, primarily the capacity of the participants to perform repeated sprints during a simulated match.

The student can begin to research and accumulate knowledge about dehydration as well as the effects of caffeine in the body. New knowledge about caffeine’s role in possibly interfering with iron absorption and decreasing insulin levels may lead the student to consider additional tests for iron and blood insulin levels. The student may also come to the conclusion that such tests may not be needed, necessary or specific to caffeine intake.

III. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have estimated that the average daily caffeine

The data from the mean indicates that caffeine consumption resulted in a heart rate increase for all the patients at an average of 12 units from the normal rate. In addition, the standard deviation post consumption is consistent with mean as it was represented by a factor of 9.74 before the caffeine and 11.58 after. The high deviation after caffeine could be attributed to the fact that caffeine does effect each person differently. The median and mean relate heavily, showing that there was not a large presence of outliers in the data and that there is consistency between each participant’s response to caffeine. The normal distribution of the data was evidenced by the interquartile deviations where the lower quartile was 63.50 before patients were served with coffee and upper quartile of 77.50 and with simultaneous changes after caffeine drinks with low quartile being 74.50 and upper quartile at 92.50. The quartiles distributions show steady changes in heart rate with respect to

Ever since Red Bull entered the market in 1997, there's been a boost in the sales of these caffeinated energy drinks. These are marketed to increase energy, aid weight loss, improve stamina, concentration, and athletic performance, some even claim to give you superpowers. But not a slight hint is given to the consumers about the high caffeine amounts in them which can lead to serious consequences in both adults and

An independent samples t-test was conducted to examine the difference between experimental conditions on test performance. The results indicated a significant difference between participants who consumed the caffeinated beverage and participants who did not, with participants in the caffeinated group (M = 7.64, SD = 2.41) performing worse than participants in the non-caffeinated group (M = 9.81, SD = 3.16), t (97) = 2.14, p < .05.

A single-subject design of research was utilized. This research design is a prevailing and practical tool that is applicable for assessing interventions with the participant seeking specific habitual behavioral changes under a given set of circumstances (monitoring SSB intake). The design involves a AB structure, where “A” is the baseline (regular daily SSB consumption) phase and “B” refers to intervention phase (limiting SSB intake). Outcome was recorded during both phases, which made it easier to understand because it showed (intake) what happened on a day-to-day basis. Baseline data will be collected daily at the home (setting) of the participant for one week and entered into a questionnaire and chart at the end of the week. The following week the participant did the same thing, but only this time SSB intake was monitored daily to see if limits could be put on consumption, the behavior the participant wanted to change.

Various studies have been conducted in attempts to connect the use of caffeine with increased endurance levels. Graham and Spriet (1995) conducted a double-blind test involving eight endurance runners. Each participated in a control test previous to the study in which they ran a prescribed distance, to the point of exhaustion. All ate similar meals and abstained for caffeinated substances previous to the trials. Over a four-week period, each runner returned to the laboratory to run the prescribed distance while intravenously being given varying doses of caffeine. A blood and oxygen sample was collected every fifteen minutes during the run in order to record the time span until physical exhaustion was reached. The results confirmed that low doses of caffeine caused a drastic increase in endurance levels, while not altering the epinephrine (or adrenaline) levels. Also, large doses of caffeine caused great increases in plasma epinephrine levels while only slightly altering the endurance levels. This test, therefore, supposes that small doses of caffeine, when compared to

As well, sport drinks have the ability to provide a subject with an increased amount of endurance for their exercise. One reason why sport drinks have this capability is due to the carbohydrates found in the beverages. These carbohydrates exist as either of two sugars, sucrose and glucose-fructose, which provide the energy for the body that makes sport drinks better to use during exercise than water (Tsintzas 155). Carbohydrate consumption allows athletes to work harder for longer periods of time and to feel better while doing the exercises. A recent study determined that runners who had only water to drink lost speed during the race compared to those who had sport drinks. Also, performance time was faster in runners who consumed the sport drinks as opposed to water. It was only during the final 17.2 kilometres of the race that the performance times began to differ and the runners who drank the sport drinks ran faster (Tsintzas 156). Furthermore, the exercise intensity was higher towards the end of the race from those runners who had the sport drinks. As with most performance enhancing implements, sport drinks have potential drawbacks.

Thesis Statement: Caffeine is something that almost everyone has consumed and some people are even addicted to, it has negative and positive effects on one’s health.

The most popular among endurance athletes happens to be caffeine, obtained various ways included coffee and pills/gums. Anyone who has drunk a cup of coffee or a soft drink knows how caffeine can make you feel, but not many understand how it could improve endurance performance. Lee Lerner and Brenda Lerner attempt to explain this in their article in World of Sports Science by saying, “The actual effect of caffeine on performance for these sports may be more a psychological dependence on the belief that the caffeine stimulates more effective performance.” Also, in his book The Endurance Diet, Matt Fitzgerald supports this by saying, “Not only does a well-brewed mug of high-quality coffee taste delicious and create feelings of well-being and mental alertness, but it also enhances endurance performance by acting on the brain to reduce perception of effort(199).” Both of these quotes support one common fact about how and why caffeine helps endurance performance: the caffeine affects the mind and benefits how the mind responds to training and racing. In conclusion, caffeine can and does yield a positive effect on endurance performances, but primarily because it aids the mind and its

Caffeine is the most commonly used legal substance in the world (Nehlig, 1999). Since many caffeinated drinks are marketed directly to children (Bramstedt, 2007) and caffeine consumption is increasing among children (Frary et al., 2005), it’s necessary to learn the possible effects of caffeine intake in this age group. Within the past 30 there has been a 70% increase in caffeine consumption among teenagers and children. (Harnack et al., 1999). Energy drinks are marketed specifically to young adults and children with advertisements featuring extreme sports, such as rock climbing, parasailing, and BASE jumping and with phrases such as “Red Bull gives you wings” and “Excite your sense” (reviewed in Miller, 2008a). Caffeine has been added to non-traditional items such as, gum, mints, candy