Caffeine and L-Theanine for Focus and Concentration

We have talked in other articles about the role of caffeine as a stimulant of the central nervous system, specifically citing its main mechanism of action as an antagonist of adenosine receptors, improving muscle contraction/relaxation cycles and multiple other actions already described that you can easily find on this website.

Today we are going to focus on the synergy with another substance that is not so well known and that nevertheless its usefulness in certain sports disciplines or some individual cases at a clinical level can surely be of great interest to us.

We are going to talk about the non-protein amino acid L-Theanine, one of the best-known active ingredients of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and some types of mushrooms, comprising up to 50% of the total amino acids of this tea (25- 60 mg per serving of 200 ml of tea / 2,5 g of dried tea leaves).
Interestingly, it has been seen that this amino acid is responsible for the umami taste of green tea, masking other bitter tastes such as caffeine
Theanine supplementation appears to cause an increase in alpha-1 wave production within 30-45 minutes of your oral intake of standard supplementation doses. This increase in alpha-1 production is closely related to the most common benefits of theanine supplementation (relaxation and attention).

It has also been seen how massive supplementation could cause a decrease in brain tryptophan, as well as a decrease in serotonin, although these antiserotonergic effects and their toxicity should not worry us with supplementation under normal conditions, since, if it occurs, it would be with doses much, much higher than those necessary compared to those used to cause all its beneficial effects.
To conclude with many other additional effects of this substance, it has been seen how it not only improves concentration and relaxation. It can also have its clinical utility in other disorders such as chronic stress, schizophrenia, hyperactivity (ADHD), attention deficit and even reducing the number of seizures in other neurodegenerative diseases. Finally, its role related to the cardiovascular system is involved in the synthesis of nitric oxide through the phosphorylation of the endothelial variant of the nitric oxide enzyme (eNOS).

As for the role that interests us, different studies have seen how the combination of theanine (100-250 mg) the equivalent of 6-10 cups of tea and caffeine (50-150 mg) 2-3 cups of coffee 60-90 min before the task, would be enough in humans to improve selective attention and produce improvements in concentration in cognitively demanding tasks. Therefore, it could be tremendously useful in people who may not feel well with caffeine or it causes nervousness/anxiety due to their low tolerance (genetic/epigenetic factors).
As well as an enormously useful supplement to reinforce the role of caffeine as a nootropic/stimulant due to the action of this other substance, making these two a winning combo in situations of alertness, study, work, computer games, board games where we need concentration (chess) and other situations without negatively interacting or harming our subsequent rest.

Bibliography

• Owen GN, Parnell H, De Bruin EA, Rycroft JA. The combined effects of L-theanine and caffeine on cognitive performance and mood. Nutr Neurosci. 2008;11(4):193–9.
• Haskell CF, Kennedy DO, Milne AL, Wesnes KA, Scholey AB. The effects of l-theanine, caffeine and their combination on cognition and mood. Biol Psychol. 2008;77(2):113–22.
• Gomez-Ramirez M, Kelly SP, Montesi JL, Foxe JJ. The effects of l-theanine on alpha-band oscillatory brain activity during a visuo-spatial attention task. Brain Topogr. 2009;22(1):44–51.
• Kahathuduwa CN, Dassanayake TL, Amarakoon AMT, Weerasinghe VS. Acute effects of theanine, caffeine and theanine–caffeine combination on attention. Nutr Neurosci. 2017;20(6):369–77.
• https://examine.com/supplements/theanine/

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