Coffee Ingestion: Interaction Between Sex and Cycling Performance
Funder
The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee
Value
£19,897.28
Team
Dr Neil Clarke (PI) and Dr Darren Richardson
Dates
March 2018 to March 2019
Project overview
Caffeine is a well-established ergogenic aid, although research to date has predominantly focused on anhydrous caffeine, and in men. Consequently, there is a lack of research examining the ergogenic effect of caffeine on women, and in particular when receiving alternate forms of caffeine delivery, such as coffee.
Project objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate whether sex differences exist with regard to 5 km cycling time trial performance and affective responses following the ingestion of 300 ml caffeinated coffee, a placebo (coffee flavoured solution) and a control (no fluid).
Impact
Coffee ingestion significantly increased salivary caffeine levels and, overall, resulted in improved 5 km time trial performance. Performance following COF was faster than PLA and CON trials, with men and women both improving by approximately 9 seconds and 6 seconds following coffee ingestion compared with placebo and control, respectively.
However, no differences were observed between CON and PLA. In conclusion, ingesting coffee providing 3 mg·kg -1 of caffeine increased salivary caffeine levels and improved 5 km cycling time trial performance in men and women by a similar magnitude.
Overall, ingesting coffee providing 3 mg·kg-1 of caffeine increased salivary caffeine levels and improved 5 km cycling time trial performance in men and women by a similar magnitude, which suggests that recreationally active men and women respond similarly, and positively, to coffee ingestion prior to exercise. Furthermore, these results indicate that coffee ingestion may be a practical source of caffeine prior to a 5 km cycling time trial for men and women.
