Drinking Coffee Can Improve Your Athletic Performance

Caffeine in a morning cup of coffee could be as good at improving endurance in athletes as taking caffeine pills, a new US study has claimed.

A while ago, coffee was criticized for its ill-effects and now caffeine from coffee has been found to keep your heart healthy. Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. It can temporarily make you feel more energetic but at the same time it can make you more anxious.

The effects of coffee and it's primary ingredient caffeine on your body still seem to be a mystery. Bringing it back in the spotlight, a new study reveals that drinking a cup of coffee in the morning can help improve athletic endurance.

Good News For Coffee Lovers: Regular Consumption Of Coffee Can Lower The Risk Of Death
Coffee drinkers had a reduced risk of death from heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, influenza, pneumonia, and suicide, but not cancer.

‘There is the potential that getting your caffeine by drinking coffee has similar endurance benefits as taking caffeine pills.’

"Coffee is a popular source of caffeine, so this paper looked at the research surrounding its ergogenic benefits," said the study author Simon Higgins from University of Georgia in the US. The study was published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism.

Higgins reviewed more than 600 articles and screened them for those that focused only on caffeinated-coffee conditions, measured the caffeine dose and measured an endurance performance.

Participants either cycled or ran after drinking coffee. They then exercised vigorously and the results were measured. In a majority of cases, endurance was noticeably improved after the use of coffee. Looking at the nine trials, Higgins found that between three and seven milligrams (mg) per kilogram of body weight of caffeine from coffee increased endurance performance by an average of 24 percent.

Drinking Large Amounts of Coffee may be Bad for Your Health
People with the gene variant for handling caffeine slowly, more coffee has been linked to a higher risk of hypertension and heart attacks.

“There’s a perception that coffee won’t give you the same benefits as pure caffeine. New research could mean that athletes could have a cup of coffee versus taking a pill,” Higgins said.

Dr. Rupali Datta, Chief Clinical Nutritionist at Fortis-Escorts Hospital agrees, "It is always better to consume caffeine in its natural form that way you can also reap the benefits of the antioxidants it contains."

People Who Drink Coffee are Less Likely to Die from Certain Diseases
Moderate coffee consumption was associated with reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurological diseases, and suicide.

Source-Medindia

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