Effect of caffeine ingestion on anaerobic capacity quantified by different methods.

André Sansonio,Victor Amorim Andrade-Souza,Lucyana Arcoverde,Rodrigo Silveira,Romulo Bertuzzi,Adriano Eduardo Lima-Silva,Nir Eynon,Fabiano Tomazini

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0179457

Abstract

We investigated whether caffeine ingestion before submaximal exercise bouts would affect supramaximal oxygen demand and maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD), and if caffeine-induced improvement on the anaerobic capacity (AC) could be detected by different methods. Nine men took part in several submaximal and supramaximal exercise bouts one hour after ingesting caffeine (5 mg·kg-1) or placebo. The AC was estimated by MAOD, alternative MAOD, critical power, and gross efficiency methods. Caffeine had no effect on exercise endurance during the supramaximal bout (caffeine: 131.3 ± 21.9 and placebo: 130.8 ± 20.8 s, P = 0.80). Caffeine ingestion before submaximal trials did not affect supramaximal oxygen demand and MAOD compared to placebo (7.88 ± 1.56 L and 65.80 ± 16.06 kJ vs. 7.89 ± 1.30 L and 62.85 ± 13.67 kJ, P = 0.99). Additionally, MAOD was similar between caffeine and placebo when supramaximal oxygen demand was estimated without caffeine effects during submaximal bouts (67.02 ± 16.36 and 62.85 ± 13.67 kJ, P = 0.41) or when estimated by alternative MAOD (56.61 ± 8.49 and 56.87 ± 9.76 kJ, P = 0.91). The AC estimated by gross efficiency was also similar between caffeine and placebo (21.80 ± 3.09 and 20.94 ± 2.67 kJ, P = 0.15), but was lower in caffeine when estimated by critical power method (16.2 ± 2.6 vs. 19.3 ± 3.5 kJ, P = 0.03). In conclusion, caffeine ingestion before submaximal bouts did not affect supramaximal oxygen demand and consequently MAOD. Otherwise, caffeine seems to have no clear positive effect on AC.

Highlights

The maximum amount of ATP that can be resynthesized by the breakdown of intramuscular ATP, phosphocreatine and muscle glycogen during a short-duration maximal exercise is defined as anaerobic capacity (AC) [1,2,3,4,5]
Submaximal VO2 increased with the exercise intensity under both conditions (P < 0.01) but there was no difference between caffeine and placebo (P = 0.63) or interaction between intensity and condition (P = 0.12) (Fig 2)
The AC estimated by gross efficiency (GE) method was significantly higher than the AC derived from critical power (CP) method (P = 0.01, Fig 5)

Summary

Introduction

The maximum amount of ATP that can be resynthesized by the breakdown of intramuscular ATP, phosphocreatine and muscle glycogen during a short-duration maximal exercise is defined as anaerobic capacity (AC) [1,2,3,4,5]. It is assumed that the total energy available from anaerobic resources is finite [5]. The AC is an important parameter for measuring athletic performance during short-distance sports such as 500–4,000 m cycling time trials [6]. While there is no “gold-standard” method to estimate AC, it has been consensually assessed by the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) [4]. The MAOD is calculated by the difference.

Methods

Results

Conclusion