Caffeine is described a drug, a natural stimulant that ”stimulates” the central nervous system.

It is found in products such as – tea, coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks, cocoa products and can be bought in the form of tablets and powder.

Why are people taking caffeine to improve exercise performance?

There are a number of reasons people are using caffeine. One major reason as to why – is to improve exercise performance. This includes endurance, high intensity, and strength/power performance.

What does caffeine do in the body? 

There are a few processes that have been mentioned to describe how caffeine acts on our central nervous system:

1. Inhibits adenosine receptors – adenosine, is a chemical that slows activity of neurons, and makes us feel sleepy when it binds to receptors. Caffeine acts as an antagonist (competitor for the adenosine receptor) reducing adenosine’s ability to bind to it’s receptor, making us more alert.
2. Activates noradrenaline neurons – whose main role is to prepare the brain and body for action.
3. Affects levels of dopamine in blood – it is thought that caffeine increases the amount of dopamine in our brain, by increasing receptor availability – dopamine is associated with promoting wakefulness and alertness.

The effect on Strength & Power Performance

Caffeine supplementation increases both – upper and lower body strength, improving 1RM of back squat & bench press of participants.

Limitations of these studies: both studies only supplemented caffeine at a rate 6mg per kg of body weight. For a 70kg individual, this would equate to 420mg of caffeine having to be taken – which is over the daily recommended safe intake for adults.

The effect on High Intensity Performance

Caffeine doses ranging from 3-6 mg per kg of body weight have allowed improvement in high-intensity aerobic exercise.

Caffeine is told to be ingested 30-60 minutes before exercise, as it is suggested that it reaches a peak (highest level) in the blood within 30-60 minutes, and this is when you’re most likely to experience the full effects of caffeine.

The effect on Endurance Based Performance

After caffeine ingestion,

• time to exhaustion (the amount of time remaining before work cannot be maintained) and
• performance time

been were boosted in both elite runners and cyclists.

Recommendations for caffeine consumption

The European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) confirmed that up to 3mg per kg of body weight for children, and 400mg per kg of body weight for adults is safe to consume per day.

The exact amount of caffeine in any food or drink will depend on the recipe and method used to make it, but the typical amounts in the following  –

1. Cup of coffee (200ml) – 90mg
2. Espresso (60ml) – 80mg
3. Energy drink (500ml) – 160mg
4. Cup of tea (220ml) – 50mg
5. Plain chocolate (50g) – 25mg
6. Can of coke (330ml) – 40mg

Possible Side Effects

Restlessness, headaches nausea, vomiting, increased heart rate, fever, irritability.

Long term use of caffeine can cause dependence, and addiction.

People who stop drinking caffeine abruptly can suffer symptoms & experience cravings. To minimise symptoms and cravings, slowly reduce your caffeine intake each day.

Conclusion

Caffeine can be very effective to improve performance – whether strength, endure or high intensity based and could benefit your future workouts.

A minimum dose of 200mg should produce some improvements in performance (based on 3mg per for 65kg individual) , and dosage should not exceed 400mg (due to recommendations). This should typically be taken around 30-60 minutes prior to exercise to see full effects.

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What are amino acids?

Amino acids are building blocks that combine to form proteins. Our bodies use these proteins for many functions –

1. Build and repair tissues – helping with growth and maintenance of muscle, bone, cartilage, skin and blood;
2. Makes enzymes, hormones and chemicals;
3. Transport and store nutrients;
4. Maintain pH and fluid balance
5. Immune function

But BCAA supplements are commonly taken as they are thought to promote muscle building, and improve exercise performance.

There are 20 Amino Acid’s which make up human protein which are required for the health and function of our bodies. Nine of these are classified as essential, meaning they cannot be produced by the body making them extremely important for protein production. These includes histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. 

So this makes BCAA essential right? Seeing as they’re classed as essential so we can produce body protein?

Protein Production

Muscle protein production is dependent on all of the essential and non-essential amino acids, they must be present in adequate amounts for muscle protein production. Therefore without abundant availability of all essential amino acids, and ultimately non essential amino acids, muscle protein production will be limited by the availability of amino acids.

So yes, you could say BCAA supplements can help with muscle protein production and growth – providing the body with 3 of the essential amino acids. But we’re only consuming 3 of the essential amino acids within the BCAA supplement .. where are we getting the non-essential and other essential amino acids from which are required for muscle production? 

Ultimately our bodies can make the non-essential, so we can forget about them.

But as I said the essential amino acids cannot be made our body, so we must have to get them from somewhere – so other essential amino acids, come from protein breakdown (which is constantly occurring, as body protein is constantly being broken and produced to renew or replace body protein) which means that yes BCAA supplements can help to ”switch on” muscle protein synthesis – but there effect on muscle production and growth is limited. As there is only 3 essential proteins there .. and our body has to get the remaining essential amino acids from breaking down muscle protein. Therefore this makes it impossible for us to ultimately produce new muscle protein. As the essential amino acids released from breakdown, are either reincorporated into the muscle protein in production, or oxidized (making them unavailable).

Studies have actually shown that introduction of BCAA (straight into the veins, and into the blood) does not increase the rate of muscle protein production, but actually reduces the rate of muscle protein production.

CONCLUSION – TO BCAA OR NOT?

In my opinion, supplementation of BCAA is not needed for people with a sufficient protein intake as many protein sources, such as meat and eggs provide the BCAA’s and all the other essential amino acids too.

If your diet is low in protein, for example if you’re vegan – then a BCAA supplement would be a good idea. Otherwise, stick with food protein sources & whey protein.

The post To BCAA (Branched-Chain Amino Acids) or not? appeared first on LA Nutrition.