In this literature review, I will be analysing the literature on Caffeine Ingestion and Endurance Performance.
Endurance performance according to Farlex, 2003, ‘is a performance where key muscles are exercised at submaximal intensity for prolonged periods of time’, without the onset of fatigue.
Caffeine is a, stimulant which affects the central nervous system (CNS) (Farlex, 2003) and it has also been found to increase the fat oxidation and metabolism of free fatty acids, FFA, (Essig, Costill, and Van Handel, 1980; Hadjicharalambous et al., 2006), during aerobic respiration through the release ‘epinephrine’ as stated by Spriet et al., 1992.
Caffeine is an ‘alkaloid’ (Farlex, 2003) and according to Spriet, 2014, is commonly used ‘work enhancing supplement’ which has been researched thoroughly since the 1970’s, due to caffeine’s potential to improve performance through its ergogenic effect. Caffeine’s ergogenic effect targets the CNS, as caffeine is a ‘adenosine antagonist’ (Davis et al., 2002; McCall, Millington, Wurtman,. 1982) Caffeine has a very similar structure adenosine (Fredholm, B, B et.al., 1999) which enables the caffeine to pass through the blood brain barrier (McCall, A.L., Millington, W.R. and Wurtman, R.J. 1982) and block the adenosine receptors and therefore delays the onset of fatigue (Graham, 2001) and create a greater sense of wakefulness and alertness while also improving reaction time. This is achieved throught the blocking of the adenosine receptors
There will be a significant relationship between peak power and fatigue index in endurance verses power athletes.
Caffeine is a wildly use drug in today’s society. Caffeine is a methylated xanthine which acts as a mild central nervous system stimulant (MS & RL, 2001). It is a stimulant which acts upon the central nervous system and increases alertness, wakefulness and restlessness and it increases the release of catecholamine from renal medullar (Fernandez, 2016; Collines, 2007). It is present in many beverages. Caffeine is found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, products containing chocolate (cocoa) and some medication (Collines, 2007). It is used as a cardiac and respiratory stimulant (Collines, 2007).Caffeine is the most frequently ingested pharmacologically active substance in the world (Collines, 2007).
Caffeine is a huge component in pre-workout supplements, and is probably the one ingredient that is most controversial. Chemically, caffeine does promote alertness and focus, but the long-term effects and other side effects are what scare most people away from taking additional caffeine to what many people already take on a daily basis. When someone gets tired, it is because of a chemical called adenosine. Adenosine builds up in the brain whenever you are awake, and it binds to adenosine receptors on brain cells. The binding of adenosine causes drowsiness by slowing down nerve cell activity. To a nerve cell, caffeine looks just like adenosine, so caffeine is able to bind to the adenosine receptors in your brain. However, caffeine does not slow down the cell’s activity like adenosine would. The cell cannot “see” adenosine anymore because caffeine is taking up all the receptors adenosine binds to,
Caffeine’s mental appeal is just as trendy as its physical purpose. Caffeine has been proven to stimulate the central nervous system. Caffeine stimulates the Central Nervous System at high levels, like the medulla and cortex, and even has the ability to reach the spinal cord in larger doses. The effect of caffeine in the cortex is a clearer thought process and also can rid the body of fatigue. This gives people a greater ability of concentration for 1-3 hours. For athletes competing in sports where quick thinking and rapid reactions are necessary, caffeine can provide a huge edge. However, these results are much more inconsistent than the experiments done on caffeine in endurance sports. (http://www.garynull.com/Documents/CaffeineEffects.htm)
Caffeine is a natural central nervous system stimulant. It is considered a drug that if is overly consumed can be dangerous for one’s body. Caffeine is a temporary energy booster that improves mood and alertness for most people, mainly athletes. It can be an eye-opener in the morning, could be drunk or eaten on practice brakes, and for some, it just became a habit that they cannot go through a day without a cup of coffee before exiting their doorways. Furthermore, it requires good health and stamina for athletes to perform throughout the game, particularly the one in teams,
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.
Thesis: Caffeine can have many different effects on the body depending on the amount of consumption.
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
The end result is an increase in blood sugar for use as muscle fuel. Basically, it is believed that caffeine raises the general metabolism of the user, which resultantly increases the activity and raises the body’s temperature (wysiwyg://35/http://onhealth.com/ch1/indepth/item/item.34623_1_1.asp).
Caffeine is demarcated as a drug because it arouses the central nervous system, causing increased alertness. Caffeine gives most people a temporary energy boost and elevates mood. That’s why everyone generally uses it for plenty of reasons mostly dealing with work or school. Some people use caffeinated energy drinks to improve their endurance while playing sports or to dance for long periods. That’s just the beginning, these are the things that caffeine does to the brain, heart, fetus, and body.
Caffeine can increase mental alertness at work or while studying which can also enhance performance on certain mental tasks.
Caffeine Effects In The Brain Caffeine acts in a multitude of ways in the brain. The most recent studies explore the cooperative effects of adenosine and dopamine, as well as the increase in calcium in the interstitial fluid and possible accumulation of cyclic adenosine monophospate. The most popular discussions of earlier studies of caffeine demonstrate its antagonistic effects on adenosine receptors. While it has been reported that adenosine receptors are located throughout the brain, the various subtypes can be found in very specific areas.
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
The metabolism results of study A showed caffeine results (Fig. A) as expected. Pre-caf gave the earliest caffeine reading, followed by dur-caf. Urinary caffeine levels (Fig. B) were well below the International Olympic Committee regulation of 12µg/ml. Plasma analysis showed that blood glucose levels were higher in the pre-caf treatment, possibly due an increase in metabolic rate from the
Caffeine has many negative effects on humans, such as increased heart rate (Lane, J.D., 2002), depression (Goldstein, 2008), and addiction to this “drug.” You may be asking yourself, “What is caffeine?” Well, caffeine is actually a stimulant (Barone, Roberts, 2008) that is found in beverages such as tea, coffee, and soft drinks. In fact, caffeine is the highest grossing and most used stimulant in the United States (Barone, Roberts, 2008). It is estimated that 85% of adults living in the United States consume caffeine on a daily basis (Barone, Roberts, 2008). That means for every 100 adults, 85 of them have had a drink that contained caffeine on any given day. One reason caffeine is so widely available compared to other stimulants is