Other dietary

strategies to enhance exercise

performance?
E.g. caffeine?
 Caffeine gets
quickly into
your blood

Caffeine crosses
all body
membranes
including blood
brain barrier

Half life for

caffeine is 4-5 h
Well trained endurance athletes; treadmill running @ ~85% VO2max
Caffeine given 1 h before exercise start
Graham and Spriet JAP 78:867, 1995
 How much caffeine are we talking about?

e.g. often studies use 5-9 mg/kg body mass

So…6 mg/kg X 70 kg = 420 mg of caffeine

16 ounce cup (“grande”)

= ~330 mg of caffeine

250 mL (8 oz)
= ~80 mg of
caffeine
 Original Theory of Caffeine Mechanism of Action:

Caffeine stimulates the release of epinephrine!

• This increases mobilization of FA from adipose tissue

Therefore, increased fat oxidation?

Glycogen sparing and improved endurance?

Is there any truth to this theory?

 Caffeine improved time to exhaustion

Trained subjects

Run or cycle to
exhaustion
@ 85% VO2max

9 mg/kg caffeine
1 h before
exercise

Sorry, graph quality is poor but you can see that

grey/caffeine bars are higher! ! Graham et al. 2001
No effect of caffeine….. Graham et al. 2001
 No effect of caffeine on
muscle glycogen
content

Overall data suggest

cycle or run time to
exhaustion is improved
by caffeine
BUT this seems to be
independent of changes
in whole body fat and
carbohydrate oxidation

Graham et al. 2000

 What is the mechanism?
• Recent evidence points to central nervous system (CNS)
• Caffeine crosses all body membranes including blood brain
barrier; a CNS stimulant
• increases arousal, wakefulness, alertness, vigilance, mood

HOW does it work?

• Caffeine is antagonistic to adenosine – i.e. caffeine binds to
adenosine receptors and prevents typical adenosine effects
• Adenosine is an inhibitory neurotransmitter – suppresses
arousal and spontaneous activity
Thus, caffeine blocks effects of adenosine!
(i.e. caffeine promotes wakefulness)
 Caffeine benefits – yes or no?
1. Aerobic exercise (20 - 35 min)
• Very high aerobic power outputs
• Most studies say YES!
• e.g. 1500 m swim, ~80-85% VO2max run to exhaustion
• Likely to be central effect, not peripheral effect
2. Intense exercise (4-8 min)
• Near-maximal energy coming from aerobic and anaerobic pathways
• YES!
• E.g. 1500 m running, 1-3 cycling bouts at 100% VO2max to
exhaustion, 2000 m rowing
• How? Central and peripheral (ion Ca 2+ handling?) effects?
3. Sprint exercise (< 90 s)
• Power output ~150-300% VO2max - anaerobic energy metabolism
• ???? Brief intense nature of sprints makes it difficult to study and
to show significant effects of caffeine.
 Effects of caffeine and carbohydrate mouth rinses on
repeated sprint performance
Purpose: to examine effectiveness of carbohydrate and
caffeine mouth rinses in enhancing repeated sprint ability

Twelve males performed 5 × 6-s sprints interspersed with

24 s of active recovery on a cycle ergometer
25 mL either non-caloric placebo, a 6% glucose, or a 1.2%
caffeine solution was mouth-rinsed for 5 s prior to each
sprint in a double-blinded, cross-over design

Also tested combined caffeine-CHO rinse vs CHO alone

Published in Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 38:633-637.
DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2012-0333
© Canadian Science Publishing or its licensors.
© Éditions Sciences Canada ou ses concédants de licence.

CHO and (or) caffeine mouth rinses may rapidly enhance power
production, which could have benefits for specific short sprint
exercise performance.
Likely a central mechanism - - reduces perceived exertion!
 Side effects of caffeine?
• Many possible side effects: anxiety, jitters, insomnia,
inability to focus, GI upset, irritability, etc.

• Mild side effects common with > 6 mg/kg body mass

• Minimal side effects with ~3-6 mg/kg body mass

• A lot of individual variation!

• Responders and non-responders
• Genetic variation

• Try caffeine first in training!

 Beet Root Juice?
What is it?
• Dietary source of nitrates that are broken down in
mouth and stomach to become nitric oxide.
• BEET IT 400 mg nitrate per shot (70ml)

What does it do?

• Potential to lower amount of oxygen
needed to run at a given intensity
• Nitric oxide is a vasodilator that increases
the flow of blood and oxygen to the
muscles
 Q: Does 6 days of nitrate ingestion improve
time-trial performance in trained cyclists?

Study design: double-blind, crossover design

12 trained male cyclists
140 ml/d of beetroot juice or a placebo (nitrate-
depleted beetroot juice) for 6 days

After 6 days, subjects did 60 min of submaximal

cycling (2×30 min at 45% and 65% maximal power,
respectively), followed by a 10-km time trial
Cermak et al. 2012
 Results?
• Time-trial performance and power output
improved after BEET vs PLACEBO
• Volume of O2 consumed was less after BEET!

Take home point: Six days of nitrate

supplementation reduced VO₂ during submaximal
exercise and improved time-trial performance in
trained cyclists.
**Not all studies have shown this!**
 What about **elite** runners?
METHODS:
• Eight male 1500-m runners
• Double-blind, crossover design
• Runners supplemented with Beet Root or a nitrate-
free beetroot juice (PL) for 8 days.
• On days 1 and 8 subjects ingested 210 mL of BR or
PL and did a submaximal treadmill run & 1500-m
TT on an indoor track

Boorsma et al. 2014

 Results?
• Beet Root juice did NOT reduce VO2 or
improve 1500-m TT performance of a group
of elite distance runners
• Two responders to BR were identified
– Inter-individual, genetic variation?

• Other reasons for lack of effect?

Boorsma et al. 2014

 So, does Beet Root juice work, or not?
May help recreational more than elite athletes

Studies using recreational athletes have consistently

found improvements in exercise efficiency and
performance, whereas studies using highly trained
athletes haven’t always found positive results.

It seems that elite athletes may already have higher levels of

nitric oxide “precursors” in their body, so supplementation
may not have the same effect.

Most importantly?
Practice/try it in training first!!!