Caffeine remains the “go-to” ingredient for energy and endurance. And for women who engage in team sports, one study showed that a moderate dose of caffeine may be the most effective.
The authors note that caffeine is one of the most extensively researched energy-promotion ingredients, but there isn’t much information about how certain doses affect performance. Therefore, the researchers looked at female team sports players and three different caffeine doses (3 mg per kg body weight, 6 mg and 9 mg). They noted that all the women were already “mild” caffeine consumers.
This study had a randomized, crossover, double-blind design in which each athlete performed four experimental sessions after ingesting either a placebo (PLAC), 3 mg per kg CAF (CAF-3), 6 mg CAF (CAF-6), or 9 mg of CAF (CAF-9), with an in-between washout period of at least 72 hours.
In each session, one hour post-supplementation, the women performed a countermovement jumps test (CMJ), modified agility t-test (MATT), repeated sprint ability (RSA) test, and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and completed the caffeine side effects questionnaire.
The authors’ findings revealed that compared to placebo, the MATT, and RSA performances were significantly greater under the CAF-6 and CAF-9 conditions. Although the RPE scores remained unchanged, CMJ performance improved under all CAF doses. All the performance outcomes were better for the CAF-6 and CAF-9 doses than for the CAF-3 dose. Notably, no significant difference between the CAF-6 and CAF-9 conditions was observed for any of these parameters despite the highest incidence of side effects being noted for the CAF-9 condition.
They concluded, “In summary, our findings highlight the recommendation for a moderate CAF dosage of 6 mg·kg rather than 3 or 9 mg·kg to enhance various aspects of short-term maximal performance in mild-CAF-consumer female team-sports athletes while mitigating the occurrence of adverse CAF side effects.”
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