The effects of caffeine on caffeine users and non-users

Abstract

This work examined the effects of consuming relatively small amounts of caffeine, from 20 to 160 mg, on performance and self-reports of mood in a group of caffeine users. A group of non-caffeine users were studied after ingesting 160 mg of caffeine. At regular intervals after consumption subjects were tested on several behavioral measures and blood samples were taken for caffeine analysis. Results showed caffeine users had higher blood caffeine levels and lower blood pressure at some doses than did non-users. Regular caffeine users showed a tendency toward better performance on a rotary pursuit task than non-caffeine users given a placebo treatment. They also experienced a performance decrement, relative to users given placebo, when blood caffeine levels were relatively high. Caffeine users showed no sign of caffeine withdrawal when compared to non-users before caffeine treatment. Performance of non-users given caffeine was poorer than control performance, and they tended not to report altering effects of caffeine. However, in caffeine users, the ratio of alertness:tension self-ratings tended to roughly track plasma caffeine with the lowest ratios occurring when plasma caffeine peaked after 160 mg dose. Low ratios were also found after 0, 20, and 40 mg caffeine treatments. The ratio was highest after 80 mg caffeine, suggesting that an optimum caffeine dose might exist for peak alertness:tension, with higher or lower doses resulting in a decrease of that ratio. These data suggest that real or expected mood and perhaps performance benefits experienced by caffeine users contribute to the motivation for consumption.