INTERNATIONAL COFFEE ORGANIZATION
POSITIVELY COFFEE PROGRAMME
COFFEE, EXERCISE AND PERFORMANCE
Exercise plays a part in all our lives whether we are playing the
occasional game of football with the children, using exercise to help fight
the battle of the bulge, or, if we are elite athletes, amazing all around us
with the kind of breathtaking performances we saw at Athens this summer.
Caffeine is part of the naturally occurring group of stimulants found in leaves, nuts and
seeds of a number of plants. Common dietary sources include coffee, tea, chocolate
and a variety of soft drinks and sports drinks. The caffeine content of various foodstuffs
is given below.
Table 1.
Caffeine content of various foodstuffs
Foodstuff
Serving size
Caffeine content
(mg)
Coffee *
150 ml
50 -120
Tea*
150 ml
15-50
Chocolate Drink**
250 ml
10
Milk Chocolate**
50g
40
Caffeinated Soft Drinks
330 ml
40 -100
(from Maughan 1999)
* Values for coffee and tea vary widely depending on the source and
method of preparation.
** In addition to caffeine, chocolate contains theobromine, which has an insignificant
effect compared to caffeine.
So what is the effect of caffeine on different types of exercise?
Although the mechanism whereby caffeine may aid performance is not fully understood,
there is substantial research that concludes that caffeine does improve physical
performance. Its effect also appears to be widespread across a diverse variety of sports
and exercises. Studies have also been wide ranging and have included well-trained
athletes and relatively sedentary individuals of both sexes and different age groups.
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE ORGANIZATION
POSITIVELY COFFEE PROGRAMME
One of the most comprehensive and recent reviews (Doherty and Smith 2004) looked at
39 published studies. Of these, 21 involved end