Take a step into any college athletic team locker room and I guarantee you will find a plethora of powders, cans, and bottles of caffeinated drinks. Caffeine is a very popular drink for athletes and non-athletes, but I wanted to learn why caffeine is highly consumed in the athlete population.
Caffeine has very little, if any, nutritional value. Caffeine stimulates the vasodilation of blood vessels, neural activation of muscle contraction, blood filtration in the kidneys as well as many other things. It targets many different systems in the body within the sympathetic nervous system such as the central nervous system (increases mood and alertness, decreases feelings of pain and fatigue), muscular system (increases endurance and speed), cardiovascular system (increases heart rate). It also increases the level of oxygen uptake, ventilation, levels of epinephrine, and lowers the threshold for exercise-induces cortisol and B-endorphin release (2008, Sökmen et al.). From what I found, it seems as if caffeine heightens the body’s ability to react in a similar way that stress responses do naturally.
It is unclear if caffeine enhances performance for a long period of time. In the study I looked at, caffeine improved strength and performance for sprints and power workouts that were less than 10 seconds. In repeated maximum exercise exertions that lasted 15 seconds to 3 minutes, caffeine had little to negative effect for sprint and power performance (2008, Sökmen et al.). Over time, it is common to see athletes become tolerant to caffeine and need higher doses of caffeine to feel the same alertness and observe the same effects. This is problematic because higher doses of caffeine can increase tremors, insomnia, and heart rate (2019, Pickering & Kiely). It is also common for athletes to experience caffeine withdrawal in the form of constant headaches due to the vasodilation of cerebral blood vessels in response to the body’s newly formed dependency on the drug.
Even though caffeine can improve the performance of athletes, there are negative side effects to it as well. Caffeine can pass through all biological membranes because it is both hydrophilic (can distribute freely into the intracellular tissue) and lipophilic (can readily cross the blood-brain barrier) (2001, Institute of Medicine Committee on Military Nutrition Research). Due to its ability to spread throughout the entire body, effects such as decreased sleep, increased anxiety, dehydration, restlessness, and rapid heart rate all come from ingesting caffeine (2011, Snel & Lorist).
Overall, caffeine physiologically does increase various systems that can help an athlete’s overall performance. I am not convinced that it greatly improves their ability to perform, but as long as dependency does not set in it is not bad for the body; however, there are negative effects to it such as sleep deprivation and increased anxiety that are arguably worse for an athlete than performing without caffeine. At the end of the day, athletes are going to do what makes them feel their best, and consuming reasonable amounts of caffeine is not a terrible choice.
Snel, J., Lorist, M. (2011). Effects of Caffeine on Sleep and Cognition. 190 105-117. https://www-sciencedirectcom.dml.regis.edu/science/article/pii/B9780444538178000062.
Graham, T.E., Hibbert, E., & Sathasivam, P. (1998). Metabolic and Exercise Endurance Effects of Coffee and Caffeine Ingestion. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1998.85.3.883.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research.(2001). National Academies Press. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223808/.
Sökmen, B. et al. (2008). Caffeine Use in Sports: Considerations for the Athlete. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 22(3) 978-986. https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2008/05000/Caffeine_Use_in_Sports__Considerations_for_the.47.aspx.
Kiely, J. Pickering, C. (2019). What Should We Do About Habitual Caffeine Use in Athletes? Sports Medicine. 49 (833-842).
Hi Madelyn, your post really showed both the dangers and benefits of caffeine for individuals in society. It was interesting to note what your opinion would be on the new energy drinks that are coming out now a day? One would-be BANG energy. Each 16 oz can contain upwards of 400 mg of caffeine which is 3 times the recommended daily amount. This amount of caffeine and or caffeine in general has been shown to cause heart arrythmias, increased blood pressure, and increased heart rate (Wassef B et al., 2017). Overall causing our cardiovascular system to work overtime when trying to metabolize everything and compensate for that insane dose of caffeine. But in a study that I was reading there are some benefits to energy drinks. They contain some vitamins that may be beneficial in the long run. Including: Ginseng, Gluconolactone, and L-carnitine. Ginseng, certain rat studies have shown that intake of ginseng causes insulin sensitivity, which helps in weight loss. Gluconolactone in rat studies has shown to suppress tumor promoters and eliminate carcinogens. Carcinogens coming from about anything really, example being you eat a burnt steak you just consumed a carcinogen. Also, eating red meat is a carcinogen. And finally, L- carnitine is used in fatty acid oxidation. A pathway in metabolism that is important in the breakdown of fats. These 3 ingredients should be taken with a grain of salt. We don’t know if the amount the energy drinks are beneficial, but in moderation anything can be helpful or damaging.
ReplyDeleteRat study articles with energy drinks: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5714807/
Wassef, B., Kohansieh, M., & Makaryus, A. N. (2017). Effects of energy drinks on the cardiovascular system. World journal of cardiology, 9(11), 796–806. https://doi.org/10.4330/wjc.v9.i11.796