The competitions arrive and we all want to give our best. There are numerous supplements that promise to improve our performance. However, many of them lack scientific evidence to support them.
Caffeine is probably the most widely consumed psychoactive substance by the general population. Moreover, it is also considered one of the supplements with the most scientific support. Focusing on endurance sports, there are numerous studies that support its effectiveness in improving performance. In fact, a systematic review (Ganio et al., 2009) that included 21 studies analyzing the effect of caffeine on trials lasting more than 5 minutes (that is, most endurance sports) observed that caffeine consumption increased performance by an average of 3.2%.
It is important to point out that certain authors have found a high variability in responses to caffeine, observing improvements that range between 0 and 17% depending on the individual (Ganio et al., 2009). Thus, just as caffeine affects some people more, for example, when it comes to sleeping, there could also be a different response during exercise. Numerous factors can affect the greater or lesser effectiveness of caffeine consumption, including being accustomed to its intake. However, a recent study (Gonçalves et al., 2017) showed that the consumption of 6 mg/kg of caffeine improved performance in a time trial even in those more accustomed to caffeine consumption (>300 mg/kg per day of caffeine, the equivalent of 3 coffees).
Therefore, caffeine can lead to substantial improvements in performance. The most widespread consumption strategy is to take 3-6 mg/kg of caffeine (that is, 210-420 mg for a person weighing 70 kg) prior to exercise (30-60 minutes before). This amount can be administered in pills, but also in the form of caffeine gels or even coffees, considering that an espresso of 50 ml contains approximately 100 mg of caffeine.
References
- Ganio, M. S. et al. (2009) ‘Effect of caffeine on sport-specific endurance performance: a systematic review.’, Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association, 23(1), pp. 315–324. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31818b979a.
- Gonçalves, L. de S. et al. (2017) ‘Dispelling the myth that habitual caffeine consumption influences the performance response to acute caffeine supplementation’, Journal of Applied Physiology, 123(1), pp. 213–220. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00260.2017.
AUTHOR
Pedro Valenzuela
Researcher in the Physiology Unit at the University of Alcalá and the Performance Monitoring Unit at the Sports Medicine Center (AEPSAD, Madrid High Performance Center).
Website: www.fissac.com
