The health benefits of caffeine and how it can boost your performance

[DrJKiel]

Watch the youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4fj6DBgsD8

Caffeine is everywhere. It’s in your coffee, soda, tea and other drinks. It’s in a pill form for those of you who don’t like to drink your caffeine. It’s the most socially accepted stimulant in the world and thus is the most consumed. Many people drink caffeine without knowing how it affects their body and what risks and benefits it has. I’m going to summarize that information for you and provide some good information and resources for you to reference.

Some general facts about caffeine. As many as 90% of adults get some form of caffeine in their diet and about 150 million Americans drink coffee on a daily basis. Men are more likely to drink coffee than women. 71% of coffee consumption occurs in the developed world. Tea consumption in the US is on the rise. Tea is also preferred over coffee in developing countries, particularly parts of South America and Asia.

Caffeinated soft drink consumption is also on the rise, especially in children. There has been a rise in consumption and reports of caffeine toxicity from abusing energy drinks in recent years. Safe levels of caffeine consumption in children and adolescents has not been established but is presumed to be lower than in adults.

The following is a list of different effects caffeine has on your body.

Alertness - Many studies have established that caffeine consumption leads to increased alertness, energy, and ability to concentrate. This is particularly true among people who are fatigued or sleep deprived.

Headache - Caffeine has properties that can alleviate or generate headache symptoms. Caffeine has been shown to help alleviate tension or migraine type headaches. Individuals who consume caffeine regularly and then abruptly stop are also at risk to have the so-called rebound headache. This is the most common side effect of caffeine withdrawal.

Psychiatric - Caffeine consumption is associated with anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, irritability, and even panic attacks in healthy volunteers. Whether caffeine causes this is not well understood. It may exacerbate symptoms of individuals who are at risk of anxiety disorders.

Cardiovascular/ Heart - Low-to-moderate habitual consumption of caffeine may reduce the risk of having a heart attack. Consumption of heavy amounts of caffeine, intermittent use or people who are slow metabolizers and thus more susceptible to it’s effects may actually increase their risk of a heart attack.

Diabetes - Caffeine reduces the risk of developing diabetes. In fact, decaffeinated coffee is associated with lower HbA1c concentrations.

Constipation - Coffee may or may not decrease the likelihood of constipation. In other words, it may or may not loosen your bowels up. It is the experience of this author that it does

Liver disease - Coffee consumption has been shown to decrease the incidence of liver cirrhosis and slow the progression of hepatitis C.

Cancer Risk
Breast - The studies have given mixed results, no established or known benefit at this time
Lung - Caffeinated coffee may increase your risk of lung cancer slightly, although the authors of that study suggest that result should be interpreted with caution.
Gastrointestinal - Reduced risk, especially throat and liver cancer.
Endometrial - Reduced risk
Ovarian - No known association with coffee or caffeine consumption.
Bladder - One study found a slightly increased risk, but it was not related to dose and appears to be associated with smoking, similar to lung cancer.
Prostate - Reduced risk.

Osteoporosis - May be associated with a lower bone mineral density and increased risk of fracture among women, especially those with poor calcium intake.

Arthritis - No known association with rheumatoid arthritis. However, it has been shown to have a strong protective effect against gout and elevated uric acid levels.

Urinary Frequency and Incontinence - Increases urinary frequency and volume. May exacerbate symptoms of urge incontinence.

Other Protective Effects
Decreases risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease.
May decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease.

Athletic Performance - This has been extensively studied and shown to improve performance across a wide variety of activities. Caffeine has been shown improve strength performance, high intensity cardio and aerobic exercise. Significant performance increases were noted at 2.5 mg/kg to 5 mg/kg. Caffeine is also associated with increasing the bodies responsiveness to testosterone, circulating sex hormone binding globulin, and circulating cortisol.

Overall Mortality
Multiple studies have shown that increasing coffee consumption is associated with a decrease in overall mortality (death). Essentially, these studies suggest that there is a protective effect on coffee consumption. When comparing coffee drinkers to those who do not drink coffee, the risk of death was lower in coffee drinkers. This appears to be true among moderate coffee drinkers (2-3 cups/day) as well as heavy coffee drinkers (>6 cups/day)

Caffeine in Pregnancy:
Studies regarding the effects of caffeine on fertility and pregnancy have been poor in quality for a variety of reasons. There is evidence that caffeine readily crosses the placenta and can affect fetal heart rate and arousal among other things. There is are no uniform guidelines on caffeine consumption in women who are planning to become pregnant or are currently pregnant. Most professional organizations recommend keeping consumption below 200-300 mg/day.

Caffeine abuse, dependence and withdrawal
Caffeine was not previously considered a drug of abuse or dependence because clinical indicators of abuse and dependence were not well established in literature. The American Psychiatric Association will be releasing the DSM 5 in the near future. This will formally include caffeine dependence as a diagnosis because a withdrawal syndrome is well documented.

Symptoms of withdrawal are essentially the opposite of what you experience when you consume caffeine. This includes tiredness, fatigue, decreased energy and alertness, drowsiness, decreased mood and irritability among other symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms occur within 24 hours, peak at 1-2 days and can last up to 7-10 days. Withdrawing from caffeine is not lethal.

Sources of caffeine
The most common sources of caffeine are coffee and tea. Other sources one can consider are cocoa (chocolate), guarana, yerba mate, kola nut. It can also be found in some over-the-counter pain relievers and diet pills.

Summary Recommendations
Caffeine is healthy and confers many health benefits when consumed in moderation
It is proven to boost athletic performance in a variety of ways
Compared to people who don’t drink coffee, it decreases overall mortality
In pregnant women, keep consumption under 200-300 mg/day

Resources
http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffeine-myths-and-facts
http://examine.com/supplements/Caffeine/
http://www.uptodate.com/home (requires subscription)
Watch the youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4fj6DBgsD8

[Aydin86turko]

great read! thanks

[chris139ryan]

Good read

[gericon]

nice, I like caffeine any case

[geoffreydunn12]

Caffeine is my energy in the morning so I'm okay with it. On the other hand, I don't like to put too much sugar as I don't like sweet thing. I love to drink coffee 2x a day and I think that is not addictive and I'm fully energized after.

[Patrick55615]

If you drink soda or coffee or energy drinks you obviously don't work out

[DrJKiel]

If you drink soda or coffee or energy drinks you obviously don't work out

lolwut

[SmellyMoot]

this is a great read! very informative!

[mike222222]

If you drink soda or coffee or energy drinks you obviously don't work out

ignore this troll^

Good read.

[offen]

Overall Mortality
Multiple studies have shown that increasing coffee consumption is associated with a decrease in overall mortality (death). Essentially, these studies suggest that there is a protective effect on coffee consumption. When comparing coffee drinkers to those who do not drink coffee, the risk of death was lower in coffee drinkers. This appears to be true among moderate coffee drinkers (2-3 cups/day) as well as heavy coffee drinkers (>6 cups/day)

No wonder there are so many coffee machines at the hospital. COFFEE KEEPS YOU FROM DYING

[EricDevis]

Thanks for the info.
I am counting calorie, and now a days feel a bit weak.
will drinking caffeine mess up my calorie counting?

[DrJKiel]

Thanks for the info.
I am counting calorie, and now a days feel a bit weak.
will drinking caffeine mess up my calorie counting?

Hey Eric, good question. 8 oz of black coffee has 10 calories, so you can easily work it into your diet. Obviously, if you add cream or sugar, that will bump the calorie count significantly. Good luck!

[mmanningfitness]

Hey Eric, good question. 8 oz of black coffee has 10 calories, so you can easily work it into your diet. Obviously, if you add cream or sugar, that will bump the calorie count significantly. Good luck!

I usually stick to caffeine pills.

[DrJKiel]

I usually stick to caffeine pills.

Even better. Looks like that choice and hard work are paying off.

[SMKillerBody]

Dude, very good article. You covered way more in here than I anticipated.

[DrJKiel]

Dude, very good article. You covered way more in here than I anticipated.

Glad you enjoyed it man!

[DrJKiel]

great read! thanks

Glad you enjoyed it!

[humangus]

I love caffeine as a supplement prior to working out. I honestly couldn't do without it. I tend to workout every morning and without caffeine those 5am workouts just wouldn't happen. Here are some cool studies that highlight what caffeine can do for you. One shows that it might even boost testosterone. The study says "Furthermore, the delayed fatigue was associated with substantially elevated testosterone concentrations and decreased cortisol in the caffeine trials."


Great article DrJ

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2010 Dec;110(6):1243-50. doi: 10.1007/s00421-010-1620-6. Epub 2010 Aug 25.
Caffeinated chewing gum increases repeated sprint performance and augments increases in testosterone in competitive cyclists.
Paton CD, Lowe T, Irvine A.
Source http://www.leanbulk.com/articles/prohormone-guide-2013/

Health and Sport Science, Eastern Institute of Technology, Private Bag 1201, Taradale, Hawkes Bay, Napier, New Zealand. CPaton@eit.ac.nz
Abstract
This investigation reports the effects of caffeinated chewing gum on fatigue and hormone response during repeated sprint performance with competitive cyclists. Nine male cyclists (mean ± SD, age 24 ± 7 years, VO(2max) 62.5 ± 5.4 mL kg(-1) min(-1)) completed four high-intensity experimental sessions, consisting of four sets of 30 s sprints (5 sprints each set). Caffeine (240 mg) or placebo was administered via chewing gum following the second set of each experimental session. Testosterone and cortisol concentrations were assayed in saliva samples collected at rest and after each set of sprints. Mean power output in the first 10 sprints relative to the last 10 sprints declined by 5.8 ± 4.0% in the placebo and 0.4 ± 7.7% in the caffeine trials, respectively. The reduced fatigue in the caffeinetrials equated to a 5.4% (90% confidence limit ±3.6%, effect size 0.25; ±0.16) performance enhancement in favour of caffeine. Salivary testosterone increased rapidly from rest (~53%) and prior to treatments in all trials. Following caffeine treatment, testosterone increased by a further 12 ± 14% (ES 0.50; ± 0.56) relative to the placebo condition. In contrast, cortisol concentrations were not elevated until after the third exercise set; following the caffeine treatment cortisol was reduced by 21 ± 31% (ES -0.30; ± 0.34) relative to placebo. The acute ingestion of caffeine via chewing gum attenuated fatigue during repeated, high-intensity sprint exercise in competitive cyclists. Furthermore, the delayed fatigue was associated with substantially elevated testosterone concentrations and decreased cortisol in the caffeine trials.

Food Chem Toxicol. 2013 Aug 31;62C:343-348. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.08.073. [Epub ahead of print]
No harmful effect of different Coca-cola beverages after 6months of intake on rat testes.
Tóthová L, Hodosy J, Mettenburg K, Fábryová H, Wagnerová A, Bábíčková J, Okuliarová M, Zeman M, Celec P.
Source http://tunedsports.com/designer-ster...ecursor-guide/
Institute of Molecular Biomedicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia. Electronic address: tothova.lubomira@gmail.com.
Abstract
Our laboratory recently reported that a 3-month exposure of rats to cola-like beverages induced sex hormone changes. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of various types of Coca-cola intake with different composition for 6months on oxidative status in testes and testosterone in adult male rats. Fifty adult male Wistar rats were divided into control group drinking water, and groups drinking different Coca-cola beverages (regular Coca-cola, Coca-cola caffeine-free, Coca-cola Light and Coca-cola Zero). Oxidative and carbonyl stress markers were measured in the testicular tissue to assess oxidative status together with testicular and plasma testosterone. StAR expression in testes as a marker of steroidogenesis was quantified. No significant differences were found between the groups in any of the measured parameters. In conclusion, oxidative and carbonyl stress in testicular tissue were not influenced by drinking any type of Coca-cola. Additionally, testosterone in testes and in plasma, as well as testicular StAR expression were comparable among the groups.

[Donut Juice]

After reading this article, i stood up and poured myself another cup!

[Summer2Z]

After reading this article, i stood up and poured myself another cup!

exactly the same

[BFJ]

Solid read thanks for taking a sensible stance. I recently reviewed this article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23669879 in episode 12 of the podcast in my forum signature. Used some crazy high doses showing possible benefits in certain cases where u need to be wired

[SikiiD]

I did not know that about caffeine. Thanks

[johnkylie]

Nice read, thank you!

[seanthom78]

good article!

[JohnSmeton]

I think caffeine is fine pre workout when training. You dont have to, I can help energy though, esp if you use lower to moderate amounts and overuse or abuse it.
For myself, im 240lbs, 200 mgs before workouts works great, and before cardio I take to take 300 mgs, on off days I dont take it, unless and a big unless im getting ready for a competition.

[flyrich]

never really felt a kick from caffeine

[showgirl23]

caffeine addict cheking in

[rwells81]

Good read. I have found that caffeine really does help with my migraines that I get. Pop a Dew and within a few minutes I seem to feel much better when a massive migraine comes on.

[JMUdukes]

Bumping this back to the top! Great article; I'm a caffeine addict and have done some research. I recently participated in research on the affect caffeine has on exercise performance. I performed two VO2max tests on a stationary cycle while hooked up to a metabolic cart. One week I ingested a placebo, while the other I received a healthy dose of caffeine. The research indicates that caffeine prolongs exercise at max intensity; essentially you can perform exercise longer at your max. I was able to cycle at my VO2max for 30 seconds longer which is actually quite a significant time when at your max. Anyways, I found this article thorough and refreshing to see someone who actually put a positive spin on caffeine consumption. Repped.

[KaylaElizabeth]

I use caffeine as a preworkout, getting the energy from them is just one benefit. I didn't realize how good it was for me too!