Caffeine, Energy and Sport Perfomance

Stud­ies have shown that 200 to 350 mil­ligrams (mg) of caf­feine helped some peo­ple have more endurance. This may be because caf­feine pro­motes the use of body use fat as fuel instead of glyco­gen (stored sugar). Or, caf­feine may sim­ply lessen the feel­ing of fatigue.Coffee was shown to cause the release of fat from fat cells, spar­ing mus­cle glyco­gen. Some marathon run­ners will drink a cup of cof­fee before a race to avoid “hit­ting the wall.” The the­ory behind this is that, glyco­gen is the pri­mary source of energy in the mus­cles, whereas body fat is used as a sec­ondary energy source. Once mus­cle glyco­gen reserves are used up — after 2 hours of vig­or­ous aer­o­bic activ­ity — body fat comes more into play as an energy source, but body fat is not as eas­ily uti­lized dur­ing exer­cise. Vin­son & Dab­bagh, Nut Research 1998; 18 (6): 1067 – 75.

But not every­one ben­e­fits from caf­feine. Some ath­letes feel too jit­tery or ner­vous to do their best dur­ing sports activ­i­ties. .In mod­er­a­tion, caf­feine may give you a men­tal edge for com­pet­ing. It may boost your mood and moti­vate you to work­out more reg­u­larly. What are the risks? Caf­feine can cause you to over­look the fact that your body needs more rest to repair and grow your mus­cles. Lis­ten to your body and take time to recover from work­outs. Caf­feine is also a diuretic which means it can make you pee more than usual. Drink extra liq­uids for 2 to 3 days before com­pe­ti­tion to avoid dehy­dra­tion. You need to deter­mine the right amount of caf­feine for you and take it at the right time before exer­cis­ing. High lev­els of caf­feine use, such as 800 mg per day, have been banned by the Inter­na­tional Olympic Com­mit­tee and other insti­tu­tions. Most peo­ple can stay in the allowed lim­its by tak­ing less than 350 mg per day.

How much caf­feine is in food and drinks? Caf­feine con­tent in mil­ligrams (mgs):

Cof­fees: 8 oz. cup of brewed cof­fee (130 to 175 mgs.); 8 oz. cup of instant cof­fee (70 to 135 mgs); 5 oz. cup of espresso (150 mgs.); 8 oz. cup of decaf­feinated brewed cof­fee (3 to 6 mgs.). Teas: 6 oz. cup of black tea (40 to 60 mgs.); 8 oz. glass of iced tea, from pow­der (30 to 60 mgs.); 6 oz. cup of green tea (35 mgs.). Sodas: 12 oz. can of cola, diet or reg­u­lar (40 to 50 mgs.); 12 oz. can of cit­rus pop (45 to 55 mgs.). Choco­lates: 6 oz. cup of hot choco­late (5 to 10 mgs.); 8 oz. glass of choco­late milk (10 mgs.) 1 oz. bak­ing choco­late (35 mgs.); 1 oz. semi-sweet choco­late (20 mgs.); 2 oz. sweet choco­late (15 mgs.) .Med­i­cines: Allergy and cold pills (15 to 30 mgs.) ; Diuret­ics (water pills) (200 mgs.); Appetite sup­pres­sants (150 to 200 mgs.); Pain reliev­ers (30 to 130 mgs.). Start with a small amount if you decide to use it, 50 to 100 mgs of caf­feine and slowly increase the dose. Most ath­letes get the best results by tak­ing 100 to 300 mg of caf­feine two hours before work­ing out. Another way to fig­ure out the opti­mal amount of caf­feine is to take it accord­ing to how much you weigh. Aim for 2 to 4 mg of caf­feine for each kilo­gram (kg) (2.2 lbs.) of body weight. Divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to fig­ure out how much you weigh in kilo­grams. For exam­ple, a 150-pound ath­lete who weighs approx­i­mately 77 kilo­grams and could con­sume 140 to 320 mgs of caf­feine.