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Sports performance

Habitual caffeine consumption does not affect the ergogenicity of coffee ingestion during a 5km cycling time trial

N Clarke & D Richardson, 2020.
Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, published online.
December 4, 2020

ABSTRACT

There is growing evidence that caffeine and coffee ingestion prior to exercise provide similar ergogenic benefits. However, there has been a long-standing paradigm that habitual caffeine intake may influence the ergogenicity of caffeine supplementation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of habitual caffeine intake on 5-km cycling time-trial performance following the ingestion of caffeinated coffee. Following institutional ethical approval, in a double-blind, randomized, crossover, placebocontrolled design, 46 recreationally active participants (27 men and 19 women) completed a 5-km cycling time trial on a cycle ergometer 60 m in following the ingestion of 0.09 g/kg coffee providing 3 mg/kg of caffeine, or a placebo. Habitual caffeine consumption was assessed using a caffeine consumption questionnaire with low habitual caffeine consumption defined as <3 and ≥6 mg · kg−1 · day−1 defined as high. An analysis of covariance using habitual caffeine intake as a covariant was performed to establish if habitual caffeine consumption had an impact on the ergogenic effect of coffee ingestion. Sixteen participants were classified as high-caffeine users and 30 as low. Ingesting caffeinated coffee improved 5-km cycling time-trial performance by 8 ± 12 s; 95% confidence interval (CI) [5, 13]; p < .001; d = 0.30, with low, 9±14 s; 95% CI [3, 14]; p =.002; d = 0.18, and high, 8 ± 10 s; 95% CI [−1, 17]; p = .008; d = 0.06, users improving by a similar magnitude, 95% CI [−12, 12]; p = .946; d = 0.08. In conclusion, habitual caffeine consumption did not affect the ergogenicity of coffee ingestion prior to a 5-km cycling time trial.

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