The Nutrition Examination Research Digest (NERD) aims to provide rigorous, unbiased analysis of the latest and most important nutrition and supplementation studies. Click here to subscribe or login if already a subscriber .
Study under review: Chronic ingestion of a low dose of caffeine induces tolerance to the performance benefits of caffeine.
Introduction
Caffeine is well-known for being an adenosine receptor antagonist[1]. The connection between caffeine and adenosine is shown in Figure 1. Because adenosine mediates the perception of drowsiness, caffeine consumption results in alertness. On any given day, about 89% of the U.S. population consumes an average dose of 186 milligrams of caffeine. Athletes appear to love the stuff too, with one study of triathletes reporting that 89% were planning on using caffeine throughout their race.
The ergogenic effects of caffeine are well documented. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand[2] on caffeine and exercise performance states that benefits are observed primarily in sports of a prolonged duration with and without intermittent bouts of high-intensity activity, such as endurance running, soccer, and rugby. However, at least one study[3] has reported less pronounced ergogenic effects of caffeine supplementation in regular consumers (more than 300 milligrams per day) compared to nonusers (less than 50 milligrams per day). Importantly, not all studies have supported this finding[4][5][5], and it remains unclear whether regular caffeine consumption impacts its ergogenic effects.
The major limitations of research to date are the use of comparisons between groups based on self-reported caffeine intake or researchers designing caffeine-controlled interventions lasting no more than several days. The issue with the former is that self-reported caffeine intake is prone to inaccuracy. The issue with the latter is that it may take more than several days for the effects of caffeine tolerance to become apparent. Both of these limitations were addressed in the study under review, which used a caffeine-controlled diet over the course of a month to investigate the effect of prolonged habitual caffeine consumption on endurance exercise performance.
Caffeine is a popular and effective ergogenic aid for endurance exercise, but whether habitual caffeine consumption impacts the effects of an acute caffeine dose remains unclear. The study under review sought to test how prolonged regular caffeine use influences exercise performance.
Who and what was studied?
What were the findings?
What does this study really tell us?
The big picture
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I know?
Other Articles in Issue #39 (January 2018)
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NERD Mini: Coffee Correlations
It can be hard to keep track of all of the health claims made for coffee. A 2017 umbrella review helps suss out what benefits and harms are associated with coffee intake.
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Interview: Beth Skwarecki
In this interview, with Lifehacker health editor and writer Beth Skwarecki, we discuss the unique challenges of communicating the results of scientific studies to the general public, and more.
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You may be sleeping, but your muscles don’t have to!
As men age, it becomes harder for them to maintain muscle mass. Can an overnight dose of protein help improve muscle protein synthesis in older men, even in the absence of exercise?
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Do cranberries really help prevent urinary tract infections?
Cranberries have been long-suspected to help with UTIs. This meta-analysis looked at the evidence for it preventing noncomplicated UTI recurrence in otherwise healthy women.
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Is research on beta-alanine still in beta?
Beta-alanine is thought to help decrease muscle fatigue through boosting intramuscular carnosine levels. This systematic review aimed to look at the state of the evidence for its efficacy.
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Investigating sodium bicarbonate for better endurance performance
Bicarbonate supplementation has mostly been tested for high-intensity exercise. But does it help for lower-intensity aerobic performance?
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Selenium supplementation for heart health: overlooked, unnecessary, or uncertain?
Proteins that need selenium to function help mitigate oxidation and regulate inflammation, processes that play a role in cardiovascular disease. Can supplementation with selenium help?
