Coffee, Caffeine and Caffeinated foods: What do Athletes Need to Know

Coffee, Caffeine and Caffeinated foods: What do Athletes Need to Know

Highlights of a talk presented at ACSM’s Annual Meeting, May 2022, San Diego CA

Louise Burke PhD. Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University

Ben Desbrow PhD, School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Griffith University

Written by: Nancy Clark

Louise has been advising athletes about caffeine for many years. Here’s what she had to say—

Guidelines regarding caffeine used to enhance athletic performance have changed significantly. In 1991, Louise made the following recommendations, noting caffeine was on the IOC list of prohibited substances.:

• Caffeine is specifically for marathoners,
• Marathoners should consume caffeine 1 hour pre-event.
• 6 kg/kg body mass is the best dose 
• Caffeine is a diuretic

Almost every aspect of those ideas has been replaced with newer knowledge, much of which we have learned from the real-life caffeine consumption of athletes, consumers, and exercise scientists alike. Caffeine helps them all get through their day!

Scientists need to look more at what athletes do in real life, and not just develop research protocols for the lab. For example, in 1992 Frank Shorter drank some Coke about two-thirds of the way into a marathon. While scientists thought that was too little, too late to make a difference, that little bit if caffeine (and carbs) helped him have a winning performance. 

• Caffeine is not just for endurance athletes; it offers a 3% improvement in performance in many real-life sporting events across shorter races and team sports. In addition, caffeine may help athletes train harder, which explains why it is very popular among body builders. Maybe we should pay more attention to “bro science” and learn more from caffeine-consuming athletes
• Caffeine offers similar benefits whether you take it one hour pre-exercise or only during exercise. Even low doses of caffeine are effective when consumed just prior to the onset of fatigue.
• In 1984, caffeine was labeled a banned substance when the urine level was above a certain threshold (15 mcg/ml). This threshold helped discriminate between social use of caffeine vs. its use as an ergogenic aid. In 2004, WADA changed that rule, noting that caffeine does not violate the spirit of sport because everyone (athletes and consumers alike) has access to and routinely enjoy this everyday food.  
• Caffeine helps athletes train better when they are jetlagged or when their circadian rhythms are out of sorts. 
• People need to learn from their own personal experiences to determine the right caffeine source and dose for their bodies. Some people can drink coffee at night and sleep well, and others cannot. Genetics impacts the effectiveness of caffeine. 
• We need more research on how to use caffeine when athletes are competing in multiple events (such as swim meets and track meets). How should athletes time doses properly for performance? Should they take repeated doses? Does caffeine interact with other ergogenic aids, like sodium bicarbonate or beetroot juice? We have more to learn!

Ben Desbrow has been researching caffeine for more than 20 years. Here’s what he had to say—

• Caffeine comes in many forms, including water, potato chips, gums, gels, sprays, pouches, strips, medications, pre-workout supplements, NoDoz, etc. 
• Caffeine is not a food, but a food- borne drug.
• Traditionally, estimates of habitual caffeine intake have treated caffeine like a food. (That is, habitual intake = source of caffeine x frequency, such as 3 cups of coffee per day.) However, a more accurate approach would be to consider caffeine exposure. That is, habituation intake = source x frequency x pharmacokinetics (half-life). This would accommodate the potential for caffeine to “accumulate” in regular consumers.
• Caffeine content varies as much as 25 to 214 mg among retail coffee outlets. Even within the same franchise, caffeine content of coffees can vary by more than 100%.
• The caffeine content of commercial pre-workout supplements can vary from batch to batch (~40 mg difference/serving) Of the top 15 most popular pre-workout supplements, caffeine content ranged from 91 to 387 mg/serving —that’s 59% to 176% of what was listed on the nutrition facts panel. 
• Genetics influences the enzymes that break down caffeine. In general, caffeine stays in the body for about 7 hours. Its half-life might be five hours (or less) for some people, but ten hours for others. 
•  Female athletes should know that birth control pills almost double the half-life of caffeine.
•  If you consume 1 cup of coffee in the morning, most of the caffeine will have dissipated by lunchtime. If you happen to be a slow metabolizer, and then take a pre-workout caffeine boost before your afternoon workout, you might have some caffeine “overlap.” 
• Even when participants abstain from caffeine for 12 hours before coming into the lab, we detect circulating caffeine, likely because of caffeine accumulation.
• Habitual caffeine intake does not seem to influence its ergogenic effect across a range of different sports. Hence, stopping caffeine consumption for four days before a competitive offers no benefits. Caffeine withdrawal feels horrible; don’t bother! That said, no long-term habituation studies (>1month and verifying with plasma caffeine levels)) have been done. 

Ben dedicated his talk to Helen O’Connor, his mentor and the first editor of the PINES eNews.

Sports nutritionist Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD has a private practice in the Boston area. She is author of the best-selling Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook (www.NancyClarkRD.com)