Habitual Caffeine Consumption Does Not Affect the Ergogenicity of Coffee Ingestion During a 5 km Cycling Time Trial.
What this study found
Coffee ingestion improved 5-km cycling time-trial completion by 8 ± 12 s vs placebo (p<0.001). Low habitual caffeine users improved by 9 ± 14 s; high users by 8 ± 10 s; no significant difference between groups (p=0.946). No sex or order effects; both men and women improved by about 8–9 s. Habitual caffeine intake did not influence the ergogenic effect of caffeinated coffee for this task. Consuming caffeinated coffee (~3 mg/kg caffeine) 60 minutes before exercise enhances 5-km cycling performance in recreational athletes, regardless of habitual caffeine use; coffee is a practical pre-exercise…
- Study & population
- Double-blind, randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled design; 46 recreationally active participants (27 men, 19 women) who trained ~2±1 times per week for at least 1 year.
- Intervention
- 0.09 g/kg coffee providing 3 mg/kg caffeine vs placebo; beverage consumed as a 300 mL beverage within ~10 minutes; 60 minutes before a 5-km cycling time trial.
- Key limitation
- Limitations include reliance on self-reported habitual caffeine intake, potential misclassification, variability in caffeine content across coffee sources, incomplete adherence to 12-hour caffeine abstinence before trials, use of a 24-hour dietary record for standardization, and limited generalizability beyond…
View source
Open PDFOriginal 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, placebo-controlled 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.