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      More Research Is Necessary to Establish the Ergogenic Effect of Caffeine in Female Athletes

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          Abstract

          Dear Editor-in-Chief, Today, there is a significant gap in research on the ergogenicity of caffeine, and on sports nutrition in general: the benefits/drawbacks for a given substance are typically assumed for the whole population of athletes when most of the evidence is supported by investigations with only male samples. As a result of this assumption, acute pre-exercise ingestion of 3–9 mg/kg of caffeine is considered an effective strategy to increase sports performance [1], while data on urine caffeine concentration indicates that the use of caffeine in sport is similar in both sexes [2]. A few recent investigations using women as study samples, have also found that caffeine increases sports performance [3,4,5,6]. However, evidence regarding the overall ergogenicity of caffeine in women is much scarcer than in men, and it seems unsafe to conclude that the ergogenic effect of a moderate dose of caffeine is of similar magnitude in men and women. A search for published studies on the effects of caffeine on physical performance in PubMed and Scopus, following with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines [7], showed a total of 362 original investigations that have compared caffeine to a placebo/control situation, with the measurement of at least one physical performance variable (Figure 1). After filters were applied to remove duplicates or publications with unsuitable methodology, the search illustrated that a total of 5321 individuals have been tested to assess caffeine ergogenicity, since the seminal investigation by Costill et al. [8]. From this sample, 703 participants were women, which represents only 13.2% of the total sample. Although investigations on this topic have a higher tendency to include women, especially since 2013, women still represent only 16.3% of individuals participating in research carried out in 2018 (Figure 2). In addition, there is no investigation that has measured caffeine ergogenicity in women with doses below 1 mg/kg or above 9 mg/kg, and the number of women in investigations about caffeine effects on speed and muscle power is very low (Table 1). Interestingly, there are no investigations measuring the ergogenic effect of caffeine during the different phases of the menstrual cycle, despite the interactions between caffeine and female sex hormones [9]. In fact, it has been found that the effect of caffeine on increasing blood pressure is higher in the follicular than in the luteal phase in female adolescents [10]. All this information indicates that it is still too early to establish that women experience the same ergogenic response to caffeine as men, and further research is needed to describe the optimal conditions of caffeine use in sport and exercise for women. With this Editorial, we want to encourage authors to provide objective information about the dose-effect of caffeine on female athletes’ physical performance. We also want to embolden research focused to determine the magnitude of the ergogenic effect of caffeine during the different phases of the menstrual cycle. The Nutrients’ Special Issue on “Coffee and Caffeine Consumption for Human Health” is open to receive investigations on these topics that hold to “bridge the gap” on the ergogenicity of caffeine in female athletes.

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          Most cited references9

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          Urine Caffeine Concentration in Doping Control Samples from 2004 to 2015

          The ergogenic effect of caffeine is well-established, but the extent of its consumption in sport is unknown at the present. The use of caffeine was considered “prohibited” until 2004, but this stimulant was moved from the List of Prohibited Substances to the Monitoring Program of the World Anti-Doping Agency to control its use by monitoring urinary caffeine concentration after competition. However, there is no updated information about the change in the use of caffeine as the result of its inclusion in the Monitoring Program. The aim of this study was to describe the changes in urine caffeine concentration from 2004 to 2015. A total of 7488 urine samples obtained in official competitions held in Spain and corresponding to athletes competing in Olympic sports (2788 in 2004, 2543 in 2008, and 2157 in 2015) were analyzed for urine caffeine concentration. The percentage of samples with detectable caffeine (i.e., >0.1 μg/mL) increased from ~70.1%, in 2004–2008 to 75.7% in 2015. The median urine caffeine concentration in 2015 (0.85 μg/mL) was higher when compared to the median value obtained in 2004 (0.70 μg/mL; p < 0.05) and in 2008 (0.70 μg/mL; p < 0.05). The urine caffeine concentration significantly increased from 2004 to 2015 in aquatics, athletics, boxing, judo, football, weightlifting, and rowing (p < 0.05). However, the sports with the highest urine caffeine concentration in 2015 were cycling, athletics, and rowing. In summary, the concentration of caffeine in the urine samples obtained after competition in Olympic sports in Spain increased from 2004 to 2015, particularly in some disciplines. These data indicate that the use of caffeine has slightly increased since its removal from the list of banned substances, but urine caffeine concentrations suggest that the use of caffeine is moderate in most sport specialties. Athletes of individual sports or athletes of sports with an aerobic-like nature are more prone to using caffeine in competition.
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            Caffeine-containing energy drink improves physical performance in female soccer players.

            There is little information about the effects of caffeine intake on female team-sport performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a caffeine-containing energy drink to improve physical performance in female soccer players during a simulated game. A double-blind, placebo controlled and randomized experimental design was used in this investigation. In two different sessions, 18 women soccer players ingested 3 mg of caffeine/kg in the form of an energy drink or an identical drink with no caffeine content (placebo). After 60 min, they performed a countermovement jump (CMJ) and a 7 × 30 m sprint test followed by a simulated soccer match (2 × 40 min). Individual running distance and speed were measured using GPS devices. In comparison to the placebo drink, the ingestion of the caffeinated energy drink increased the CMJ height (26.6 ± 4.0 vs 27.4 ± 3.8 cm; P 18 km/h (161 ± 99 vs 216 ± 103 m; P < 0.05). The ingestion of the energy drink did not affect the prevalence of negative side effects after the game. An energy drink with a dose equivalent to 3 mg of caffeine/kg might be an effective ergogenic aid to improve physical performance in female soccer players.
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              Effects of caffeine ingestion on metabolism and exercise performance.

              In an effort to assess the effects of caffeine ingestion on metabolism and performance during prolonged exercise, nine competitive cyclists (two females and seven males) exercised until exhaustion on a bicycle ergometer at 80% of Vo2 max. One trial was performed an hour after ingesting decaffeinated coffee (Trial D), while a second trial (C) required that each subject consume coffee containing 330 mg of caffeine 60 min before the exercise. Following the ingestion of caffeine (Trial C), the subjects were able to perform an average of 90.2 (SE +/- 7.2) min of cycling as compared to an average of 75.5 (SE +/- 5.1) min in the D Trial. Measurements of plasma free fatty acids, glycerol and respiratory exchange ratios evidenced a greater rate of lipid metabolism during the caffeine trial as compared to the decaffeinated exercise treatment. Calculations of carbohydrate (CHO) metabolism from respiratory exchange data revealed that the subjects oxidized roughly 240 g of CHO in both trials. Fat oxidation, however, was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) during the C Trial (118 g or 1.31 g/min) than in the D Trial (57 g or 0.75 g/min). On the average the participants rated (Perceived Exertion Scale) their effort during the C Trial to be significantly (P less than 0.05) easier than the demands of the D treatment. Thus, the enhanced endurance performance observed in the C Trial was likely the combined effects of caffeine on lipolysis and its positive influence on nerve impulse transmission.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nutrients
                Nutrients
                nutrients
                Nutrients
                MDPI
                2072-6643
                15 July 2019
                July 2019
                : 11
                : 7
                : 1600
                Affiliations
                Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Camilo José Cela University, 28692 Madrid, Spain
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: jdelcoso@ 123456ucjc.edu ; Tel.: +34-9185-3131
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4153-5100
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0112-7164
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5785-984X
                Article
                nutrients-11-01600
                10.3390/nu11071600
                6682912
                31311110
                ebf13375-2b42-43ae-98bf-2c9ee207a781
                © 2019 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 09 July 2019
                : 12 July 2019
                Categories
                Editorial

                Nutrition & Dietetics
                Nutrition & Dietetics

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