Coffee’s Caffeine Helps Athletes Go the Distance
New research by British scientists based at Coventry University has shown that significant quantities of caffeine, especially from coffee beans, may help to boost performance by up to a significant six percent.
These findings resulted from testing under endurance conditions such as through long-distance running, where the body is pushed towards its limits. A high intake of caffeine, “most likely achieved via tablets, powder or a concentrated liquid,” according to lead researcher Dr Rob James, “might prove attractive to a number of athletes wishing to improve their athletic performance.”
Even if concentrated formats are not available, consuming an equivalent, non-condensed volume of liquid can reportedly have the same effect.
Caffeine’s alleged performance-enhancing properties hail from the effect it has on skeletal muscle when in the blood, functioning as a receptor and bringing a short-term boost to the level of power the body is able to produce, as the research group explained at the recent Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Prague.
Since caffeine was lifted from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited substance list in 2004, the scientific group are of the opinion that their discovery may help bolster the case for the usage of caffeine in sporting activities.
Indeed caffeine, more specifically caffeine from coffee beans, has already made its way into the sports drinks world. Also in recognition of the pre-sport potential of caffeine, so-called energy shots – a trend that has emanated from the US – are fast gaining ground across the globe.