March 27, 2024 • 32 mins
In this episode, Stronger U Dietitians are spilling the (science-backed) beans on caffeine! Stronger U Radio host and RD Gianna Masi welcomes back Dr. Jessica Bachman, Stronger U's Director of Operations, and trusted nutrition expert. Dr. Jess, with a PhD in Nutrition and extensive experience in academia, shares insights into caffeine consumption dispelling common misconceptions while shedding light on its effects on body composition and performance.
They delve into key highlights from a recent journal article on caffeine, covering recommended daily limits, sources of caffeine, its impact on hydration, and its role in weight loss.
Gianna and Dr. Jess explore caffeine's ergogenic effects, performance benefits, and potential risks.
Grab your favorite latte and tune in for practical advice on balancing caffeine consumption with fitness and wellness goals, empowering you to make informed choices.
Don't forget to subscribe to Stronger U Radio for more episodes like this and join the conversation in the Stronger U Community.
They delve into key highlights from a recent journal article on caffeine, covering recommended daily limits, sources of caffeine, its impact on hydration, and its role in weight loss.
Gianna and Dr. Jess explore caffeine's ergogenic effects, performance benefits, and potential risks.
Grab your favorite latte and tune in for practical advice on balancing caffeine consumption with fitness and wellness goals, empowering you to make informed choices.
Don't forget to subscribe to Stronger U Radio for more episodes like this and join the conversation in the Stronger U Community.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Welcome to the Stronger You Radio.What's up, guys. Dietitian Gianna here.
I'm so excited for this podcast todaybecause our guest is not just a
leader in the nutrition field, buta lifelong learner and educator who really walks
the walk in fitness and nutrition whilebeing a mom of two awesome kids.
(00:22):
Some of you already know her,but for those who don't, it's my
pleasure to welcome back doctor Jess tothe show. Welcome to the Stronger You
Radio. Stronger You Radio brings insightfulconversations with top nutrition, health and fitness
experts, hosted by Stronger You dietitiansand nationally certified coaches skilled at simplifying nutrition
(00:47):
science into actionable advice. Get inspiredwith evidence based, practical tips to optimize
your potential and crush your body composition, health and performance goal. This is
your time to level up and becomea Stronger You. Doctor Jess Bachman holds
a PhD in Nutrition, a Mastersof Public Health and Human Nutrition from the
(01:12):
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alongwith a nutrition science degree from Penn State
University. Today, we're covering somekey highlights on caffeine and whether you're an
occasional coffee drinker or a diehard espressofan, there's something for you in this
episode. We cover amounts of caffeineto intake, types of caffeine, how
(01:36):
it impacts your body, composition andperformance, and we discussed the half life
and what that means. A highlightfor me was learning more about caffeine and
dehydration. So grab your favorite latteand let's dive in. Welcome Doctor Jess
to the Stronger You Radio. Welcometo the show, Doctor Jess, Hey
(01:57):
Gianna, Hi everyone, thanks somuch for me. Today we were chatting
off the air about caffeine and therewas some very exciting research that just came
out, or a paper that justcame out. Could you tell us a
little bit more about that. Yeah, I love this. I actually saw
it on my Instagram feed, whichyou know, that's a fun thing to
(02:17):
find on Instagram, said Jane.We've got to talk about this. And
so it's a paper by doctor JoseAntonio and a bunch of other authors.
They came together to dive into commonquestions and misconceptions about caffeine supplementation and really
what the evidence shows this article isnot any new research. They didn't collect
(02:38):
any new research data themselves, sowhat they did was a summary of research
that has been collected and really focusedon many areas that we get asked about
all the time, so things fromdehydration, weight loss, performance, all
things we talked to members about allthe time, and so lots of really
valuable information. And by looking atthe totality of research out there, like
(02:58):
comparing across many differ and studies,you can get a really good summary of
key takeaways that actually apply to youmuch more so than just the results for
one individual study. This is combiningresearch as a whole. So I really
enjoyed reading it, and then Jaiwe kind of chat about talking about and
giving the information across the board toeveryone with lots of valuable takeaways from this.
I love it. Yeah, Ithink that's great. And that's sometimes
(03:21):
how we stay up to date,right, so we'll see, you know,
publication has a new update or somethingnew came out that we send each
other. So love that background.And I think just to ground everybody,
we have to talk about what iscaffeine? Right, and so caffeine is
one of the most widely consumed substances. It's really classified as a drug which
(03:44):
might interest some of you, someof you may not know that, and
it's classified as a drug because itstimulates the central nervous system or the CNS.
And caffeine is ninety nine percent absorbedin about forty five minutes of ingestion.
And there's a lot of variety intime that it takes, you know,
based on our gastric emptying, howlong it takes to metabolize, and
(04:06):
that will vary between individuals. Sothe average half life of caffeine is about
five hours, and we'll talk alittle bit more about the half life and
what that means in just a moment. And there's a range of that caffeine
of one point five to nine hoursfor the half life, and again that
will vary based on a lot ofdifferent characteristics or phases of life, our
(04:30):
health status, excess body fat,pregnancy, even altitude, things like that.
And so how does it work,right, How does caffeine actually work
and do what it's doing and dowhat it says it does. So mechanistically,
caffeine binds to a denizine receptors,which in turn blocks the binding of
a denizine to its receptor, andso the blockage of those receptors indirectly affects
(04:57):
the release of neurotransmitters such as norapernephyrine, dopamine, a cetylcholine, serotonin,
some of those names that you mightbe familiar with. And caffeine blocks adnizine
from working on brain cells, andthose being blocked is what prevents you from
feeling that fatigue or feeling that sleepyfeeling. And despite all the research available
(05:18):
on caffeine, because there is alot of research on caffeine, there's still
questions, misunderstandings, and misconceptions aboutcaffeine. And so that's what this paper
goes into. That's what doctor Jessand I are going to talk about a
little bit more. And to kickit off, we have to ask the
first grounding question of what is therecommended max amount of caffeine per day?
(05:42):
Yeah, and we hear that questiona lot too. People hear so many
different things. You know, isany amount of caffeine? Say you know,
how much can I have per day? And there are diet guidelines that
we have for generally across the boardfor adults from the FDA that you should
try not to exceed more than fourhundred milligrams of caffeine. What does that
actually mean? You know, themost common way that most people consume caffeine
(06:03):
is through coffee, and so let'sthe equipment of about three to four cups
of coffee per day. We saycups, and even that term itself,
surprisingly is not really super well defined. Right, one cup of a Venti
at Starbucks, it's not really onecup of coffee. That might be at
your four cup max al ready forthat. So three to our cups of
coffee is typically the amount you wantto aim to not be over. However,
(06:27):
we get caffeine from so many differentsources beyond coffee, so coffee is
one, and even when you're lookingat coffee, there's actually a wide variety
in the amount of caffeine you canfind in one cup of coffee. It's
anywhere from on average about eighty toone hundred milligrams, but you can have
way more than that, way lessthan that. It really depends on how
the beans are roasted, what varietyyou're using, where you're getting your coffee
(06:48):
from, and so it's impossible toknow exactly how much you're getting from each
cup of coffee that you're consuming.You also of course, get caffeine from
espressos, right, they have themin there. We Shato espresso has about
one hundred milligrams. There's even alittle bit of caffeine, and like decaf
coffee, most of them are veryvery low, like five milligrams, but
some even have up to forty andso they're not really caffeine free, right,
(07:10):
even decaf coffee. You get caffeinefrom hot tea if you consume that
iced tea, if you consume that. There are a lot of caffeine containing
soft drinks, so sodaes, youknow, they'll have anywhere from like thirty
five to fifty ish milligrams depending.Some are a lot more than that.
And of course there's so many productson the market like energy drinks or energy
(07:31):
bars or energy choose, right,we try and find energy from so many
sources rather than just sleeping more atnight, right, And those very drastically,
and some of them can really bepushing the limits on getting close to
that four hundred milligrams of caffeine inone drink alone, So you really want
to check the caffeine amounts and makesure that the totality of all the different
ways you're getting caffeine throughout the daydoesn't exceed that max recommendation of four hundred
(07:56):
milligrams per day. Yeah, Ilove that, And I think the two
surprise locations of caffeine. One ofthem is your favorite, which is chocolate,
and the other one is some medicationslike an etcedron for example. So
you know, thinking about your totalsome of the day, it's like,
yeah, it may not just bethat Venti coffee or the diet coke that
(08:16):
you're having, it's all these otherthings compiling. So I like that you
mentioned that, Thank you. Sohow long does caffeine stay in your system?
Like, what does the half lifemean? Yeah, so Jianna kind
of talked about a half light alittle at the top of the call here,
and it's really it's on average,how long it takes you to reducing
on a caffeine you consumed two halfits amount, And so it's not when
(08:37):
it's completely removed from your body,because there can be some that sticks around
for a very very long period oftime. And so the best way to
talk about how medication, how drugsleave your body is when you hit the
half light, and that's when halfof it is removed. Varies dramatically.
I think it shared some of thenumbers, but anywhere from an hour and
a half to nine and a halfhours. So a big variety on how
(08:58):
caffeine process and how fast it leavesyour system for individuals, and so what
that means, you know, whydo we even use that information when you're
thinking about recommendations for caffeine and whenyou should consume it. For most people,
stopping by noon and limiting caffeated beverages, drinks, you know, all
those other ways we get caffeine bythat time. Should ensure that most of
(09:20):
the caffeine is out of your bodyby the time you're going to bed,
or you don't want to be highlycaffeinated before you go to sleep, although
we all probably know people who areon both extremes. There some people can
drink coffee and go right to sleep, and that's based on, you know,
a lot of individual reasons that canhappen for them. I remember I
had a friend Heather if you're listeningfrom grad school. If she had some
(09:41):
chocolate, she was wired, solike that level of caffeine for her was
actually a really big impact on heroverall. And so you have to understand
yourself and your body and how caffeineimpacts you. But for most people,
stopping by noon is a really goodrecommendation to make sure that most of the
caffeine is out of your system beforeyou're trying to go to sleep. I'm
kind of jealous of that, LikeI wish I had that effect, because
(10:03):
I'd be like, oh, yeah, this works really well. I'm definitely
a less responsive person to caffeine.But I also know it wasn't necessarily in
this paper, but you can kindof retrain your sensitivity to caffeine by reducing,
right, And I actually don't knowthe exact timeframe for that, but
(10:24):
you like, if you're somebody who'shad a Venti ice coffee every single day
three six five for the past year, you can taper down and then feel
maybe the effects a little bit morefrom the caffeine. So yeah, absolutely,
we have a lot of tolerance overtime, and then with any tolerance,
you have to keep adding more toexperience the same impact, and that
definitely happens with caffeine. So you'reright, it's not very fun to reduce
(10:46):
them on a caffeine you consume.It doesn't feel good. I've tried it
a few times, and you know, I've done it successfully. But it's
a week when you're doing that.I usually do it on like a week.
I know I'm getting a lot ofsleep or vacation works really well,
Like only have like one small cupversus my large cold brew that I do
every day. So that's good advice. Maybe someone can take that away too,
(11:09):
all right, So when I wasthinking about you know, we talked
about the cutoff time and individual responses. I think as we think about the
individual response, some people may thinkthat they're becoming dehydrated from caffeine, but
we know that that may not betrue. So what does the research say
about dehydration and caffeine. Yeah,so back to the article that for a
(11:33):
certain prompts us to have this conversation. This is one of the areas they
really focus on a lot because it'sa very common question. People are always
asking, you know, does consumingcaffeine dehydrate you? And it's something that
I still think despite research knowledge fora long time, I think most general
people you'd ask about that, theywould say, yes, caffeine dehydrates you,
(11:54):
and research actually shows that that isnot true. Cafee beverages do not
dehydrate, dehydrate you at all.And in fact, because most of the
time when we're consuming caffeine, we'renot having it as a powder or as
a pill. Most of the timewe're drinking it as a beverage. And
so any fluid that you are consumingas a beverage when you're having caffeine,
(12:15):
so whether it's coffee or a softdrink, that fluid still counts towards your
hydration. And so we're not sayingto drink only coffee or only caffeinated beverages
for all your hydration needs. Butthe hydration the fluid you consume does actually
count towards hydrating your body. Andso where does this come from? Where's
the idea come from that caffeine dehydratesyou. There's a hypothesis that because we
(12:37):
have identasty receptors in our kidneys,that they actually increase the production of urine
in your kidneys, and so thatleads to then being dehydrated because you are
reallyasing more urine. And we foundthat that doesn't really happen if you look
at caffeine intakes across a ride.There's but a ton of research on this.
We really don't see an impact atall at levels are normally consumed by
(13:01):
most humans. So up to thatamount of four hundred milligrams per day,
and I did forget to mention whenwe were talking about the recommended max per
day that most humans. You lookat the amount that Americans actually consume,
most are in like the one hundredand fifty to two hundred and fifty milligram
range, and so in general,most Americans you may or may not fall
into that category, aren't even consumingfour hundred milligrams. And so research that
(13:22):
shows up to four hundred milligrams consumedper day, there's no impact on hydration
levels. What we do see isthat if someone consumes a very large amount
at one time, and so ifyou're consuming and you know, research looks
at the cutoff being about five hundredmilligrams of caffeine at one time, So
in one sitting you're drinking that much, that may have an acute diuretic effect.
(13:45):
So for a short period of timethere may be some excess to your
production that could have an impact onhydration. But again it's only in that
specific way of consuming caffeine a largeamount at one time that makes me think
about the days that I chug myiced coffee all in one sitting, and
I'm getting all, like, youknow whatever, two hundred milligrams all at
(14:05):
once, and I definitely feel thedifference versus I'm like a slow coffee drinker.
I don't know if anyone else islike this, but I will sip
it throughout the morning. So I'llstart drinking at like eight o'clock and I
don't finish it until like eleven ortwelve some days, and so it's the
same amount of coffee and I don'tfeel jittery or I don't really feel the
(14:26):
effects. And then on some mornings, I'll drink it all in one sitting,
you know, within twenty minutes,and I'm like, oh, that
is a stimulating dose. So it'sreally interesting to think about too, like
are you actually consuming it over time, over a few hours or all at
once, Like I think that willdefinitely feel, you know, how sensitive
you are in that one sitting.So I think that's a good reminder.
(14:48):
Yeah, and even an is itthe caffeine or the fluid volume? Right,
Like I've seen your kind of coffee. It's not small, like you're
consuming a lot of fluid at thattime. So when you drink more fluid.
It's all be a combination, allthough it might just be the solely.
If you drink a lot of foodreally fast, you're gonna have to
go the bathroom wall. Right,That's just how That's how our bodies work.
Yeah, definitely makes me think ofseltzer too, but that's a different
(15:09):
subject. But also carbonated beverages thatcan be a bladder stimulant as well.
Is it time for you to levelup? Get matched with a Stronger You
coach who's dedicated to your success andaccountability. Work one on one with an
expert to define your goals, identifychallenges, and eliminate guesswork about what to
(15:33):
do and how to do it.Our personalized nutrition and lifestyle coaching is grounded
in science, not fads, andtailored to you. No one size fits
all plans or deprivation. Here,eat foods you love and learn how to
make lifestyle tweaks to reach your highestpotential. Redeem your new member exclusive offer
(15:54):
of fifty percent off your first monthpurchase of any monthly membership plan. Sign
up at stronger you dot com withcode SU Radio fifty. That's SU Radio
fifty. This is where a strongeryou begins, let's do this. Okay,
Well, there was a lot ofquestions around caffeine and fat loss weight
(16:19):
loss, and this research article doestouch on that. So does caffeine actually
help you lose weight or reduce bodyfat? Let's let's fill in the gaps
here. Yeah, another common questionyou actually see like caffeine or other stimulants
in quite a few of supplements thatclaim to be fat loss supplements or fat
burners, like that is a commoncomponent. And why is that? There's
(16:42):
so many variables to think about whenyou think about answering you know, just
caffeine impact that or weight loss.And so first let me describe the theory
behind why there may or may notbe a connection there. And so the
theory is related to what's called fatoxidation. And so when you are in
a research there's a way you canmeasure the amount of oxygen your body is
(17:03):
consuming the amount of carbon dioxide you'reproducing, and you can use an equation
to determine what substrate and substrate iswhat energy source you're using to produce ATP
or energy in your body. Andso it's on a continue of how much
fat you're using versus carbohydrate, andwhat are the components being involved and creating
energy for your body at that time. In a research setting, when you
(17:26):
consume caffeine, we do typically seethat there is an increase in measured fat
oxidation at that time, meaning yourbody is using fat more than it was
using carbohydrate at that moment to produceenergy, or more than you typically see.
And so that sounds like, youknow, okay, I'm going to
then drink my coffee, burn morefat. Of course I'm going to lose
(17:47):
weight or lose body fat. Butthat sounds amazing, right. I wish
it was that easy. But aswe all know, things that sound too
good to be true, like there'syou know, a lot more behind that.
And so while that is true,I'm not denying that you do burn
more fat. Whether that actually translatesinto burning more body fat or losing body
fat over long term, that's alittle bit more mixed. And so just
(18:11):
producing energy in your body from morefat doesn't necessarily mean you're breaking down more
fat or losing more fat overall.And so overall, the current body of
evidence, again this paper really combinedresearch from many different studies and or multiple
different conditions, is showing that youknow, caffeine really is not It does
not make an important impact on fatloss overall. There may be some minimal
(18:36):
changes there, but if you lookat like the overall impact of so many
other factors that really go into whysomeone does here to not lose that.
You know, overall, the caloriesyou're consuming, the exercise you're doing,
all of those things have such abigger impact and need to be controlled for
that. Just caffeine itself likely doesnot have a substantial impact on fat loss
(18:56):
by itself. Yeah, that remindsme of the debate on when people say,
oh, fasted cardio, you burnmore fat. And what doctor Jess
is talking about with fat metabolism islower intensities you're using more fat as your
fuel, and then higher intensities you'reusing more carbs as your fuel. And
(19:17):
so that doesn't mean to only trainlower intensity and to only eat fat,
right, that doesn't really matter.What matters is that energy balance equation.
And yes, you do need lowerintensity and higher intensity exercise, right,
we can't just rely on one.So I feel like that's a good thread
to leave here too, where we'reconnecting the dots of Yeah, caffeine is
(19:38):
also related to those substrates that youmentioned or the energy source. Yeah,
absolutely, I just have fop inthat ge. So one thing too,
again with people they're not really takingcaffeine pills or taking caffeine powders, So
that has an impact, right,It's where you get in the caffeine.
And so if you're just drinking blackcoffee, there's no associated with that,
(20:00):
But so many of us drink coffeewith sugar added with creamer. We go
to Starbucks and get what is theolive oil thing? Right now, that
is quite delicious, and it's fineto have every once in a while,
sure, but if you're doing thatdaily, you're getting other calories and you're
consuming that caffeine too. And soyou know, whatever impact you see on
fat loss or muscle building or thingsare changing your body composition, you likely
(20:23):
can't just say it has to dowith caffeine because there's so many other factors
and so many other ways we consumecaffeine that have calories that have a huge
impact on your body composition. Yeah, definitely. So I think of like
if someone is drinking a red Bull, like a regular red Bull versus a
sugar free red Bull. In termsof body composition or their fat loss.
(20:45):
Obviously, I would prefer them tohave the sugar free version of the red
Bull versus that you know, highcalorie, high sugar one. So that's
a good point that you're making.And then I think also sleep we should
chat about with this top like afat loss, because if we are having
you know, excess caffeine or maybewe're consuming it too late in the day,
(21:07):
that's impacting our sleep, which isthen impacting our body comp right.
Absolutely, there's such an impact andsleep on hormones that cause you be hungry,
of course, you're how tired,you're feeling like burn less coweries just
because you're exhausted, and your bodiesthat move around as much the next day.
And so there's a lot of waysthat sleep impacts body composition by impacting
the energy balanced equation, both energyexpenditure and also your energy intake changing.
(21:30):
Yeah, definitely, so keana onething that So those are kind of like
the two major areas that we geta lot of questions from the recovered in
the research article. And something thearticle didn't talk about quite as much,
but you are an expert on isin the sports nutrition field. Can you
talk a little bit about the roleof caffeine as a performance enhancements an ergenic
(21:51):
aid. Yes, so ergogenic aid. So it's defined. It's it's really
you know, performance enhancing. Ithelps your stamina a little bit longer with
activities that you're doing. So caffeineis proven time and time and again as
a very effective ergogenic aid. Soit is something in sports nutrition. It's
(22:12):
right up there with creatine, right. Creatine and caffeine are very effective.
They're safe, you know, withina certain amount. So one thing that
I think is really cool about caffeineis that the placebo effect is real.
So if you think that having yourcup of coffee or whatever a caffeine that
(22:33):
you're taking in, whether maybe it'slike a goo or a gel that's caffeinated,
and you're like, I need thatbefore my run, the placebo effect
of you having it and then thinkingthat that is translating to better performance or
a better run time or a betterlift that's a real reality for some people.
So that's one thing to first mention. And then there's obviously the stimulating
(22:56):
effect of caffeine, where it candecrease pain and perception of fatigue. So
as you're running and you're feeling thatfatigue. Maybe it's just a little bit
less. You don't feel those heavylegs as quickly as you would have had
you not had caffeine. So there'sa couple of different things. There are
different sports and research on different typesof you know, caffeine with weightlifting,
(23:22):
caffeine with cycling. I mean,if you know your sport that you're interested
in, you can kind of researchand google on that a little bit more.
But yeah, it's really it's decreasingthat perception of exertion. So thinking
about like resistance training in sub maxefforts, So if you're just lifting,
that can definitely decrease your RPE andyou feel like, oh, you know,
(23:44):
on a scale of one to ten, I'm only at a seven today
rather than a nine. Right,That's just like a fun example to think
about. And then yeah, Ithink with timing, you know, you
think about the hour beforehand. Thirtyto an hour before is when I would
recommend ingestion. But again that halflife and knowing your body, knowing yourself
(24:07):
will actually influence it a lot.So if you're consuming it too far away
or too close, you might wantto trial and error that a little bit
and then I always recommend that youdon't play around with your caffeine on days
that are really important to you.So meaning know the amount of espresso that
you can tolerate before you go tryto pr or you take part in a
(24:30):
you know, benchmark type of workout, you want to make sure that you're
not going to have any stomach upset. Obviously having too much caffeine can make
you run into the bathroom or youkind of know your personal threshold with that,
So that's another consideration with your performance. So if you have more questions,
you know, we're always around toanswer more of those. But I
(24:51):
think that goes into you know,the amounts, right, So with athletes
or anyone that's working out, whatamounts are putting us at risk and what
are the risks? Right? Wetalked about the amounts, but you know,
can caffeine pose any risks? Andthe paper did talk about that,
so we can kind of use thatas another grounding reference for us here.
(25:14):
Yeah, so there are you know, you know, many people consume caffeine.
There's very safe levels you can consumeit at. However, it's important
to know, like especially for athletes, that caffeine at certain levels is a
banned substance. You have to makesure you're not consuming more than the amount
that is appropriate, depending on whichorganization you are associated with. So,
for example, the NCAA, aurinary caffeine concentration exceeding fifteen micrograms for milli
(25:38):
leader will result in a positive drugtest for you. And so understanding what
that amount is for you and beingcareful that you're not having caffeine in ways
that sneak in throughout the day thatcan put you above that limit is very
very important. Other risks are youknow, we have seen deaths from accessive
amounts of caffeine. It's not common, you know, and it's not going
to come from drinking to my coffeeat one time. It'd be very hard
(26:02):
to drink the amount that would bedeadly. But we have seen circumstances,
especially when people are using the formof insupplementation, particularly when it's in the
powder form and you can just putmultiple different scoops of caffeine directly by itself
into a drink. You know,people have died and young athletes have died
from that. There's one case whereit was someone who seemed healthy overall,
(26:22):
but they consume five thousand milligrams inone drink, and that was from scooping
too much caffeine powder into their shakerbottle. Right, that's what happened.
And so five thousand right, that'syou know, more than ten times more.
That's forty fifty cups of coffee ina single setting, and that's going
to have an impact in your heart. Right. Caffeine is a drug,
and so in normal amounts, youknow, normal daily consumption, you're probably
(26:45):
not going to see any adverse effectsfor most people as long as their hearts
are healthy and you have no otherindication the suggestions shouldn't have caffeine, but
it can be easy when you're justscooping powder into a drink to definitely have
more than you expect to have.That also makes me think of dry scooping
too, if any of the listenersknow what that is, you know,
(27:06):
just like chugging the scoop into yourmouth of a pre workout or something that's
caffeinated. That's also not recommended fora few reasons for safety. So yeah,
I just wanted to add that.To me. That was like such
a bro comment. I feel likelike you're like, I'm a gym rat,
I got this dry scooping thing.I haven't heard it called that before,
but well it's funny. Yeah.Based on that gym rat comment though,
(27:27):
too, is when you were mentioningthe average consumption for Americans, I'm
like, yeah, this definitely isan example of your environments and who you're
around, because thinking about the bodybuildersor like gym population that I'm around a
lot that is actually quite a lowamount compared to what they're actually consuming.
(27:48):
So yes, it is important torealize who you're surrounding yourself with, like
are they taking in five hundred milligramsof caffeine and dry scooping? And before
we get close to right now too, I just want to talk through a
conversation that I had recently with afriend of mine. Her son had bought
and this is he's you know,a teenager of fifteen sixteen had bought a
pre workout supplement and she was asking, you know, is this safe or
(28:11):
not? And you know, inthe amounts of things are listed on a
label, it actually looks like itwas fine. And I expressed that to
her. I'm like, hey,the amount it says it has is fine,
but just an overall note like,since we are talking about supplementation on
here, right, a reminder thatsupplements are not tested before they make it
to the market. And while youknow supplement producers don't want to harm anyone,
they aren't ill intentioned, they aren'tregulated, and so oftentimes what you
(28:36):
read on the label doesn't necessarily meanthat that is actually what's in the product.
And so you know, you can'tbe one hundred percent sure unless you
are using the HOBM that's third partytested. You know that where you're buying
your supplements fund that can be reallyreally important. And then Jay, before
we wrap up too, I justwant to mention, like this research article
again, doctor Jose Antonio. Itwas just released in twenty twenty four.
(28:57):
I highly recommend for anyone who's interestedin this topic to read it because we
only covered a few things, butthey discuss things such as the impact of
caffeine on bone health, the impactof caffeine on depression, what's the relationship
there are there sex differences in caffeine, does caffeine work for everyone? Can
it cause heart problems? And sothere's so many other things that we couldn't
(29:17):
cover in just one podcast that ifyou want to read the article though,
and you're curious to learn more aboutcaffeine. It's a really really great resource
that again highly recommend for you.Yeah, and I think all of that
supplement talk that you just mentioned orcomment that you just had was anytime you
see the word proprietary blend. Soin terms of like identifying you know your
(29:37):
sources of caffeine, because one ofthe takeaways I have for the group today
is identify where your main or commonsources of caffeine are. So if you're
looking at something like a pre workoutor a supplement and it will say caffeine,
you know, two hundred milligrams,but then also look on the label
and see if it says proprietary blend, because there can be others stimulants in
(30:00):
that blend that are not identified,and you could unknowingly ingest more caffeine than
you intended to. So that's justanother little disclaimer for you thinking about your
total day. Absolutely. Yeah,and so I think another takeaway for the
group caffeine does not dehydrate you.Doctor Jess went over that one, and
(30:21):
it's likely not a fat loss magicpill. We talked about performance. It
works by stimulating that central nervous system, improves your focus, reduces that perceived
effort. So definitely think about thatfor your workouts and performance, how you
want to manipulate that a little bit, and then don't over consume it.
Right, So, if you're someonewho is feeling more anxious or you're having
(30:45):
a hard time sleeping, you mightconsider lessening or tapering back. Obviously,
not stopping cold turkey might get somesymptom side effects like a bad headache if
you do that. So we're nottrying to take away your morning coffee joy.
We're just trying to tell you,you know the effects of caffeine.
Any other closing thoughts that you have. Jess, thank you for going over
(31:07):
this with us. The only Ithink to add to that is just know
yourself and your caffeine tolerance. Forone to stop to you or this one
to really think about. If you'rehaving an impacts on sleep, try stopping
me for noon. That can bea really important change you make in your
daily schedule too. I love it. Yeah, that's a great one.
Thank you so much, Jess.Welcome back next time with more science and
more updates to the research. Andif you guys have topics you're hoping we'll
(31:30):
cover. We're open and always readyto dive into give you tips on things
you want to know more about.So thanks for joining us today. Thank
you for listening to Stronger You Radio. For more information about how you can
get started with a Stronger You coach, visit stronger you dot com or click
the link in the episode description.As a special thank you for listening,
(31:52):
we have a Stronger You discount codejust for our listeners. Use the code
Radio fifty check out for fifty percentof your first month of coaching with Stronger
You. Tune in next time formore health and nutrition conversations
Welcome to the Stronger You Radio.What's up, guys. Dietitian Gianna here.
I'm so excited for this podcast todaybecause our guest is not just a
leader in the nutrition field, buta lifelong learner and educator who really walks
the walk in fitness and nutrition whilebeing a mom of two awesome kids.
(00:22):
Some of you already know her,but for those who don't, it's my
pleasure to welcome back doctor Jess tothe show. Welcome to the Stronger You
Radio. Stronger You Radio brings insightfulconversations with top nutrition, health and fitness
experts, hosted by Stronger You dietitiansand nationally certified coaches skilled at simplifying nutrition
(00:47):
science into actionable advice. Get inspiredwith evidence based, practical tips to optimize
your potential and crush your body composition, health and performance goal. This is
your time to level up and becomea Stronger You. Doctor Jess Bachman holds
a PhD in Nutrition, a Mastersof Public Health and Human Nutrition from the
(01:12):
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, alongwith a nutrition science degree from Penn State
University. Today, we're covering somekey highlights on caffeine and whether you're an
occasional coffee drinker or a diehard espressofan, there's something for you in this
episode. We cover amounts of caffeineto intake, types of caffeine, how
(01:36):
it impacts your body, composition andperformance, and we discussed the half life
and what that means. A highlightfor me was learning more about caffeine and
dehydration. So grab your favorite latteand let's dive in. Welcome Doctor Jess
to the Stronger You Radio. Welcometo the show, Doctor Jess, Hey
(01:57):
Gianna, Hi everyone, thanks somuch for me. Today we were chatting
off the air about caffeine and therewas some very exciting research that just came
out, or a paper that justcame out. Could you tell us a
little bit more about that. Yeah, I love this. I actually saw
it on my Instagram feed, whichyou know, that's a fun thing to
(02:17):
find on Instagram, said Jane.We've got to talk about this. And
so it's a paper by doctor JoseAntonio and a bunch of other authors.
They came together to dive into commonquestions and misconceptions about caffeine supplementation and really
what the evidence shows this article isnot any new research. They didn't collect
(02:38):
any new research data themselves, sowhat they did was a summary of research
that has been collected and really focusedon many areas that we get asked about
all the time, so things fromdehydration, weight loss, performance, all
things we talked to members about allthe time, and so lots of really
valuable information. And by looking atthe totality of research out there, like
(02:58):
comparing across many differ and studies,you can get a really good summary of
key takeaways that actually apply to youmuch more so than just the results for
one individual study. This is combiningresearch as a whole. So I really
enjoyed reading it, and then Jaiwe kind of chat about talking about and
giving the information across the board toeveryone with lots of valuable takeaways from this.
I love it. Yeah, Ithink that's great. And that's sometimes
(03:21):
how we stay up to date,right, so we'll see, you know,
publication has a new update or somethingnew came out that we send each
other. So love that background.And I think just to ground everybody,
we have to talk about what iscaffeine? Right, and so caffeine is
one of the most widely consumed substances. It's really classified as a drug which
(03:44):
might interest some of you, someof you may not know that, and
it's classified as a drug because itstimulates the central nervous system or the CNS.
And caffeine is ninety nine percent absorbedin about forty five minutes of ingestion.
And there's a lot of variety intime that it takes, you know,
based on our gastric emptying, howlong it takes to metabolize, and
(04:06):
that will vary between individuals. Sothe average half life of caffeine is about
five hours, and we'll talk alittle bit more about the half life and
what that means in just a moment. And there's a range of that caffeine
of one point five to nine hoursfor the half life, and again that
will vary based on a lot ofdifferent characteristics or phases of life, our
(04:30):
health status, excess body fat,pregnancy, even altitude, things like that.
And so how does it work,right, How does caffeine actually work
and do what it's doing and dowhat it says it does. So mechanistically,
caffeine binds to a denizine receptors,which in turn blocks the binding of
a denizine to its receptor, andso the blockage of those receptors indirectly affects
(04:57):
the release of neurotransmitters such as norapernephyrine, dopamine, a cetylcholine, serotonin,
some of those names that you mightbe familiar with. And caffeine blocks adnizine
from working on brain cells, andthose being blocked is what prevents you from
feeling that fatigue or feeling that sleepyfeeling. And despite all the research available
(05:18):
on caffeine, because there is alot of research on caffeine, there's still
questions, misunderstandings, and misconceptions aboutcaffeine. And so that's what this paper
goes into. That's what doctor Jessand I are going to talk about a
little bit more. And to kickit off, we have to ask the
first grounding question of what is therecommended max amount of caffeine per day?
(05:42):
Yeah, and we hear that questiona lot too. People hear so many
different things. You know, isany amount of caffeine? Say you know,
how much can I have per day? And there are diet guidelines that
we have for generally across the boardfor adults from the FDA that you should
try not to exceed more than fourhundred milligrams of caffeine. What does that
actually mean? You know, themost common way that most people consume caffeine
(06:03):
is through coffee, and so let'sthe equipment of about three to four cups
of coffee per day. We saycups, and even that term itself,
surprisingly is not really super well defined. Right, one cup of a Venti
at Starbucks, it's not really onecup of coffee. That might be at
your four cup max al ready forthat. So three to our cups of
coffee is typically the amount you wantto aim to not be over. However,
(06:27):
we get caffeine from so many differentsources beyond coffee, so coffee is
one, and even when you're lookingat coffee, there's actually a wide variety
in the amount of caffeine you canfind in one cup of coffee. It's
anywhere from on average about eighty toone hundred milligrams, but you can have
way more than that, way lessthan that. It really depends on how
the beans are roasted, what varietyyou're using, where you're getting your coffee
(06:48):
from, and so it's impossible toknow exactly how much you're getting from each
cup of coffee that you're consuming.You also of course, get caffeine from
espressos, right, they have themin there. We Shato espresso has about
one hundred milligrams. There's even alittle bit of caffeine, and like decaf
coffee, most of them are veryvery low, like five milligrams, but
some even have up to forty andso they're not really caffeine free, right,
(07:10):
even decaf coffee. You get caffeinefrom hot tea if you consume that
iced tea, if you consume that. There are a lot of caffeine containing
soft drinks, so sodaes, youknow, they'll have anywhere from like thirty
five to fifty ish milligrams depending.Some are a lot more than that.
And of course there's so many productson the market like energy drinks or energy
(07:31):
bars or energy choose, right,we try and find energy from so many
sources rather than just sleeping more atnight, right, And those very drastically,
and some of them can really bepushing the limits on getting close to
that four hundred milligrams of caffeine inone drink alone, So you really want
to check the caffeine amounts and makesure that the totality of all the different
ways you're getting caffeine throughout the daydoesn't exceed that max recommendation of four hundred
(07:56):
milligrams per day. Yeah, Ilove that, And I think the two
surprise locations of caffeine. One ofthem is your favorite, which is chocolate,
and the other one is some medicationslike an etcedron for example. So
you know, thinking about your totalsome of the day, it's like,
yeah, it may not just bethat Venti coffee or the diet coke that
(08:16):
you're having, it's all these otherthings compiling. So I like that you
mentioned that, Thank you. Sohow long does caffeine stay in your system?
Like, what does the half lifemean? Yeah, so Jianna kind
of talked about a half light alittle at the top of the call here,
and it's really it's on average,how long it takes you to reducing
on a caffeine you consumed two halfits amount, And so it's not when
(08:37):
it's completely removed from your body,because there can be some that sticks around
for a very very long period oftime. And so the best way to
talk about how medication, how drugsleave your body is when you hit the
half light, and that's when halfof it is removed. Varies dramatically.
I think it shared some of thenumbers, but anywhere from an hour and
a half to nine and a halfhours. So a big variety on how
(08:58):
caffeine process and how fast it leavesyour system for individuals, and so what
that means, you know, whydo we even use that information when you're
thinking about recommendations for caffeine and whenyou should consume it. For most people,
stopping by noon and limiting caffeated beverages, drinks, you know, all
those other ways we get caffeine bythat time. Should ensure that most of
(09:20):
the caffeine is out of your bodyby the time you're going to bed,
or you don't want to be highlycaffeinated before you go to sleep, although
we all probably know people who areon both extremes. There some people can
drink coffee and go right to sleep, and that's based on, you know,
a lot of individual reasons that canhappen for them. I remember I
had a friend Heather if you're listeningfrom grad school. If she had some
(09:41):
chocolate, she was wired, solike that level of caffeine for her was
actually a really big impact on heroverall. And so you have to understand
yourself and your body and how caffeineimpacts you. But for most people,
stopping by noon is a really goodrecommendation to make sure that most of the
caffeine is out of your system beforeyou're trying to go to sleep. I'm
kind of jealous of that, LikeI wish I had that effect, because
(10:03):
I'd be like, oh, yeah, this works really well. I'm definitely
a less responsive person to caffeine.But I also know it wasn't necessarily in
this paper, but you can kindof retrain your sensitivity to caffeine by reducing,
right, And I actually don't knowthe exact timeframe for that, but
(10:24):
you like, if you're somebody who'shad a Venti ice coffee every single day
three six five for the past year, you can taper down and then feel
maybe the effects a little bit morefrom the caffeine. So yeah, absolutely,
we have a lot of tolerance overtime, and then with any tolerance,
you have to keep adding more toexperience the same impact, and that
definitely happens with caffeine. So you'reright, it's not very fun to reduce
(10:46):
them on a caffeine you consume.It doesn't feel good. I've tried it
a few times, and you know, I've done it successfully. But it's
a week when you're doing that.I usually do it on like a week.
I know I'm getting a lot ofsleep or vacation works really well,
Like only have like one small cupversus my large cold brew that I do
every day. So that's good advice. Maybe someone can take that away too,
(11:09):
all right, So when I wasthinking about you know, we talked
about the cutoff time and individual responses. I think as we think about the
individual response, some people may thinkthat they're becoming dehydrated from caffeine, but
we know that that may not betrue. So what does the research say
about dehydration and caffeine. Yeah,so back to the article that for a
(11:33):
certain prompts us to have this conversation. This is one of the areas they
really focus on a lot because it'sa very common question. People are always
asking, you know, does consumingcaffeine dehydrate you? And it's something that
I still think despite research knowledge fora long time, I think most general
people you'd ask about that, theywould say, yes, caffeine dehydrates you,
(11:54):
and research actually shows that that isnot true. Cafee beverages do not
dehydrate, dehydrate you at all.And in fact, because most of the
time when we're consuming caffeine, we'renot having it as a powder or as
a pill. Most of the timewe're drinking it as a beverage. And
so any fluid that you are consumingas a beverage when you're having caffeine,
(12:15):
so whether it's coffee or a softdrink, that fluid still counts towards your
hydration. And so we're not sayingto drink only coffee or only caffeinated beverages
for all your hydration needs. Butthe hydration the fluid you consume does actually
count towards hydrating your body. Andso where does this come from? Where's
the idea come from that caffeine dehydratesyou. There's a hypothesis that because we
(12:37):
have identasty receptors in our kidneys,that they actually increase the production of urine
in your kidneys, and so thatleads to then being dehydrated because you are
reallyasing more urine. And we foundthat that doesn't really happen if you look
at caffeine intakes across a ride.There's but a ton of research on this.
We really don't see an impact atall at levels are normally consumed by
(13:01):
most humans. So up to thatamount of four hundred milligrams per day,
and I did forget to mention whenwe were talking about the recommended max per
day that most humans. You lookat the amount that Americans actually consume,
most are in like the one hundredand fifty to two hundred and fifty milligram
range, and so in general,most Americans you may or may not fall
into that category, aren't even consumingfour hundred milligrams. And so research that
(13:22):
shows up to four hundred milligrams consumedper day, there's no impact on hydration
levels. What we do see isthat if someone consumes a very large amount
at one time, and so ifyou're consuming and you know, research looks
at the cutoff being about five hundredmilligrams of caffeine at one time, So
in one sitting you're drinking that much, that may have an acute diuretic effect.
(13:45):
So for a short period of timethere may be some excess to your
production that could have an impact onhydration. But again it's only in that
specific way of consuming caffeine a largeamount at one time that makes me think
about the days that I chug myiced coffee all in one sitting, and
I'm getting all, like, youknow whatever, two hundred milligrams all at
(14:05):
once, and I definitely feel thedifference versus I'm like a slow coffee drinker.
I don't know if anyone else islike this, but I will sip
it throughout the morning. So I'llstart drinking at like eight o'clock and I
don't finish it until like eleven ortwelve some days, and so it's the
same amount of coffee and I don'tfeel jittery or I don't really feel the
(14:26):
effects. And then on some mornings, I'll drink it all in one sitting,
you know, within twenty minutes,and I'm like, oh, that
is a stimulating dose. So it'sreally interesting to think about too, like
are you actually consuming it over time, over a few hours or all at
once, Like I think that willdefinitely feel, you know, how sensitive
you are in that one sitting.So I think that's a good reminder.
(14:48):
Yeah, and even an is itthe caffeine or the fluid volume? Right,
Like I've seen your kind of coffee. It's not small, like you're
consuming a lot of fluid at thattime. So when you drink more fluid.
It's all be a combination, allthough it might just be the solely.
If you drink a lot of foodreally fast, you're gonna have to
go the bathroom wall. Right,That's just how That's how our bodies work.
Yeah, definitely makes me think ofseltzer too, but that's a different
(15:09):
subject. But also carbonated beverages thatcan be a bladder stimulant as well.
Is it time for you to levelup? Get matched with a Stronger You
coach who's dedicated to your success andaccountability. Work one on one with an
expert to define your goals, identifychallenges, and eliminate guesswork about what to
(15:33):
do and how to do it.Our personalized nutrition and lifestyle coaching is grounded
in science, not fads, andtailored to you. No one size fits
all plans or deprivation. Here,eat foods you love and learn how to
make lifestyle tweaks to reach your highestpotential. Redeem your new member exclusive offer
(15:54):
of fifty percent off your first monthpurchase of any monthly membership plan. Sign
up at stronger you dot com withcode SU Radio fifty. That's SU Radio
fifty. This is where a strongeryou begins, let's do this. Okay,
Well, there was a lot ofquestions around caffeine and fat loss weight
(16:19):
loss, and this research article doestouch on that. So does caffeine actually
help you lose weight or reduce bodyfat? Let's let's fill in the gaps
here. Yeah, another common questionyou actually see like caffeine or other stimulants
in quite a few of supplements thatclaim to be fat loss supplements or fat
burners, like that is a commoncomponent. And why is that? There's
(16:42):
so many variables to think about whenyou think about answering you know, just
caffeine impact that or weight loss.And so first let me describe the theory
behind why there may or may notbe a connection there. And so the
theory is related to what's called fatoxidation. And so when you are in
a research there's a way you canmeasure the amount of oxygen your body is
(17:03):
consuming the amount of carbon dioxide you'reproducing, and you can use an equation
to determine what substrate and substrate iswhat energy source you're using to produce ATP
or energy in your body. Andso it's on a continue of how much
fat you're using versus carbohydrate, andwhat are the components being involved and creating
energy for your body at that time. In a research setting, when you
(17:26):
consume caffeine, we do typically seethat there is an increase in measured fat
oxidation at that time, meaning yourbody is using fat more than it was
using carbohydrate at that moment to produceenergy, or more than you typically see.
And so that sounds like, youknow, okay, I'm going to
then drink my coffee, burn morefat. Of course I'm going to lose
(17:47):
weight or lose body fat. Butthat sounds amazing, right. I wish
it was that easy. But aswe all know, things that sound too
good to be true, like there'syou know, a lot more behind that.
And so while that is true,I'm not denying that you do burn
more fat. Whether that actually translatesinto burning more body fat or losing body
fat over long term, that's alittle bit more mixed. And so just
(18:11):
producing energy in your body from morefat doesn't necessarily mean you're breaking down more
fat or losing more fat overall.And so overall, the current body of
evidence, again this paper really combinedresearch from many different studies and or multiple
different conditions, is showing that youknow, caffeine really is not It does
not make an important impact on fatloss overall. There may be some minimal
(18:36):
changes there, but if you lookat like the overall impact of so many
other factors that really go into whysomeone does here to not lose that.
You know, overall, the caloriesyou're consuming, the exercise you're doing,
all of those things have such abigger impact and need to be controlled for
that. Just caffeine itself likely doesnot have a substantial impact on fat loss
(18:56):
by itself. Yeah, that remindsme of the debate on when people say,
oh, fasted cardio, you burnmore fat. And what doctor Jess
is talking about with fat metabolism islower intensities you're using more fat as your
fuel, and then higher intensities you'reusing more carbs as your fuel. And
(19:17):
so that doesn't mean to only trainlower intensity and to only eat fat,
right, that doesn't really matter.What matters is that energy balance equation.
And yes, you do need lowerintensity and higher intensity exercise, right,
we can't just rely on one.So I feel like that's a good thread
to leave here too, where we'reconnecting the dots of Yeah, caffeine is
(19:38):
also related to those substrates that youmentioned or the energy source. Yeah,
absolutely, I just have fop inthat ge. So one thing too,
again with people they're not really takingcaffeine pills or taking caffeine powders, So
that has an impact, right,It's where you get in the caffeine.
And so if you're just drinking blackcoffee, there's no associated with that,
(20:00):
But so many of us drink coffeewith sugar added with creamer. We go
to Starbucks and get what is theolive oil thing? Right now, that
is quite delicious, and it's fineto have every once in a while,
sure, but if you're doing thatdaily, you're getting other calories and you're
consuming that caffeine too. And soyou know, whatever impact you see on
fat loss or muscle building or thingsare changing your body composition, you likely
(20:23):
can't just say it has to dowith caffeine because there's so many other factors
and so many other ways we consumecaffeine that have calories that have a huge
impact on your body composition. Yeah, definitely. So I think of like
if someone is drinking a red Bull, like a regular red Bull versus a
sugar free red Bull. In termsof body composition or their fat loss.
(20:45):
Obviously, I would prefer them tohave the sugar free version of the red
Bull versus that you know, highcalorie, high sugar one. So that's
a good point that you're making.And then I think also sleep we should
chat about with this top like afat loss, because if we are having
you know, excess caffeine or maybewe're consuming it too late in the day,
(21:07):
that's impacting our sleep, which isthen impacting our body comp right.
Absolutely, there's such an impact andsleep on hormones that cause you be hungry,
of course, you're how tired,you're feeling like burn less coweries just
because you're exhausted, and your bodiesthat move around as much the next day.
And so there's a lot of waysthat sleep impacts body composition by impacting
the energy balanced equation, both energyexpenditure and also your energy intake changing.
(21:30):
Yeah, definitely, so keana onething that So those are kind of like
the two major areas that we geta lot of questions from the recovered in
the research article. And something thearticle didn't talk about quite as much,
but you are an expert on isin the sports nutrition field. Can you
talk a little bit about the roleof caffeine as a performance enhancements an ergenic
(21:51):
aid. Yes, so ergogenic aid. So it's defined. It's it's really
you know, performance enhancing. Ithelps your stamina a little bit longer with
activities that you're doing. So caffeineis proven time and time and again as
a very effective ergogenic aid. Soit is something in sports nutrition. It's
(22:12):
right up there with creatine, right. Creatine and caffeine are very effective.
They're safe, you know, withina certain amount. So one thing that
I think is really cool about caffeineis that the placebo effect is real.
So if you think that having yourcup of coffee or whatever a caffeine that
(22:33):
you're taking in, whether maybe it'slike a goo or a gel that's caffeinated,
and you're like, I need thatbefore my run, the placebo effect
of you having it and then thinkingthat that is translating to better performance or
a better run time or a betterlift that's a real reality for some people.
So that's one thing to first mention. And then there's obviously the stimulating
(22:56):
effect of caffeine, where it candecrease pain and perception of fatigue. So
as you're running and you're feeling thatfatigue. Maybe it's just a little bit
less. You don't feel those heavylegs as quickly as you would have had
you not had caffeine. So there'sa couple of different things. There are
different sports and research on different typesof you know, caffeine with weightlifting,
(23:22):
caffeine with cycling. I mean,if you know your sport that you're interested
in, you can kind of researchand google on that a little bit more.
But yeah, it's really it's decreasingthat perception of exertion. So thinking
about like resistance training in sub maxefforts, So if you're just lifting,
that can definitely decrease your RPE andyou feel like, oh, you know,
(23:44):
on a scale of one to ten, I'm only at a seven today
rather than a nine. Right,That's just like a fun example to think
about. And then yeah, Ithink with timing, you know, you
think about the hour beforehand. Thirtyto an hour before is when I would
recommend ingestion. But again that halflife and knowing your body, knowing yourself
(24:07):
will actually influence it a lot.So if you're consuming it too far away
or too close, you might wantto trial and error that a little bit
and then I always recommend that youdon't play around with your caffeine on days
that are really important to you.So meaning know the amount of espresso that
you can tolerate before you go tryto pr or you take part in a
(24:30):
you know, benchmark type of workout, you want to make sure that you're
not going to have any stomach upset. Obviously having too much caffeine can make
you run into the bathroom or youkind of know your personal threshold with that,
So that's another consideration with your performance. So if you have more questions,
you know, we're always around toanswer more of those. But I
(24:51):
think that goes into you know,the amounts, right, So with athletes
or anyone that's working out, whatamounts are putting us at risk and what
are the risks? Right? Wetalked about the amounts, but you know,
can caffeine pose any risks? Andthe paper did talk about that,
so we can kind of use thatas another grounding reference for us here.
(25:14):
Yeah, so there are you know, you know, many people consume caffeine.
There's very safe levels you can consumeit at. However, it's important
to know, like especially for athletes, that caffeine at certain levels is a
banned substance. You have to makesure you're not consuming more than the amount
that is appropriate, depending on whichorganization you are associated with. So,
for example, the NCAA, aurinary caffeine concentration exceeding fifteen micrograms for milli
(25:38):
leader will result in a positive drugtest for you. And so understanding what
that amount is for you and beingcareful that you're not having caffeine in ways
that sneak in throughout the day thatcan put you above that limit is very
very important. Other risks are youknow, we have seen deaths from accessive
amounts of caffeine. It's not common, you know, and it's not going
to come from drinking to my coffeeat one time. It'd be very hard
(26:02):
to drink the amount that would bedeadly. But we have seen circumstances,
especially when people are using the formof insupplementation, particularly when it's in the
powder form and you can just putmultiple different scoops of caffeine directly by itself
into a drink. You know,people have died and young athletes have died
from that. There's one case whereit was someone who seemed healthy overall,
(26:22):
but they consume five thousand milligrams inone drink, and that was from scooping
too much caffeine powder into their shakerbottle. Right, that's what happened.
And so five thousand right, that'syou know, more than ten times more.
That's forty fifty cups of coffee ina single setting, and that's going
to have an impact in your heart. Right. Caffeine is a drug,
and so in normal amounts, youknow, normal daily consumption, you're probably
(26:45):
not going to see any adverse effectsfor most people as long as their hearts
are healthy and you have no otherindication the suggestions shouldn't have caffeine, but
it can be easy when you're justscooping powder into a drink to definitely have
more than you expect to have.That also makes me think of dry scooping
too, if any of the listenersknow what that is, you know,
(27:06):
just like chugging the scoop into yourmouth of a pre workout or something that's
caffeinated. That's also not recommended fora few reasons for safety. So yeah,
I just wanted to add that.To me. That was like such
a bro comment. I feel likelike you're like, I'm a gym rat,
I got this dry scooping thing.I haven't heard it called that before,
but well it's funny. Yeah.Based on that gym rat comment though,
(27:27):
too, is when you were mentioningthe average consumption for Americans, I'm
like, yeah, this definitely isan example of your environments and who you're
around, because thinking about the bodybuildersor like gym population that I'm around a
lot that is actually quite a lowamount compared to what they're actually consuming.
(27:48):
So yes, it is important torealize who you're surrounding yourself with, like
are they taking in five hundred milligramsof caffeine and dry scooping? And before
we get close to right now too, I just want to talk through a
conversation that I had recently with afriend of mine. Her son had bought
and this is he's you know,a teenager of fifteen sixteen had bought a
pre workout supplement and she was asking, you know, is this safe or
(28:11):
not? And you know, inthe amounts of things are listed on a
label, it actually looks like itwas fine. And I expressed that to
her. I'm like, hey,the amount it says it has is fine,
but just an overall note like,since we are talking about supplementation on
here, right, a reminder thatsupplements are not tested before they make it
to the market. And while youknow supplement producers don't want to harm anyone,
they aren't ill intentioned, they aren'tregulated, and so oftentimes what you
(28:36):
read on the label doesn't necessarily meanthat that is actually what's in the product.
And so you know, you can'tbe one hundred percent sure unless you
are using the HOBM that's third partytested. You know that where you're buying
your supplements fund that can be reallyreally important. And then Jay, before
we wrap up too, I justwant to mention, like this research article
again, doctor Jose Antonio. Itwas just released in twenty twenty four.
(28:57):
I highly recommend for anyone who's interestedin this topic to read it because we
only covered a few things, butthey discuss things such as the impact of
caffeine on bone health, the impactof caffeine on depression, what's the relationship
there are there sex differences in caffeine, does caffeine work for everyone? Can
it cause heart problems? And sothere's so many other things that we couldn't
(29:17):
cover in just one podcast that ifyou want to read the article though,
and you're curious to learn more aboutcaffeine. It's a really really great resource
that again highly recommend for you.Yeah, and I think all of that
supplement talk that you just mentioned orcomment that you just had was anytime you
see the word proprietary blend. Soin terms of like identifying you know your
(29:37):
sources of caffeine, because one ofthe takeaways I have for the group today
is identify where your main or commonsources of caffeine are. So if you're
looking at something like a pre workoutor a supplement and it will say caffeine,
you know, two hundred milligrams,but then also look on the label
and see if it says proprietary blend, because there can be others stimulants in
(30:00):
that blend that are not identified,and you could unknowingly ingest more caffeine than
you intended to. So that's justanother little disclaimer for you thinking about your
total day. Absolutely. Yeah,and so I think another takeaway for the
group caffeine does not dehydrate you.Doctor Jess went over that one, and
(30:21):
it's likely not a fat loss magicpill. We talked about performance. It
works by stimulating that central nervous system, improves your focus, reduces that perceived
effort. So definitely think about thatfor your workouts and performance, how you
want to manipulate that a little bit, and then don't over consume it.
Right, So, if you're someonewho is feeling more anxious or you're having
(30:45):
a hard time sleeping, you mightconsider lessening or tapering back. Obviously,
not stopping cold turkey might get somesymptom side effects like a bad headache if
you do that. So we're nottrying to take away your morning coffee joy.
We're just trying to tell you,you know the effects of caffeine.
Any other closing thoughts that you have. Jess, thank you for going over
(31:07):
this with us. The only Ithink to add to that is just know
yourself and your caffeine tolerance. Forone to stop to you or this one
to really think about. If you'rehaving an impacts on sleep, try stopping
me for noon. That can bea really important change you make in your
daily schedule too. I love it. Yeah, that's a great one.
Thank you so much, Jess.Welcome back next time with more science and
more updates to the research. Andif you guys have topics you're hoping we'll
(31:30):
cover. We're open and always readyto dive into give you tips on things
you want to know more about.So thanks for joining us today. Thank
you for listening to Stronger You Radio. For more information about how you can
get started with a Stronger You coach, visit stronger you dot com or click
the link in the episode description.As a special thank you for listening,
(31:52):
we have a Stronger You discount codejust for our listeners. Use the code
Radio fifty check out for fifty percentof your first month of coaching with Stronger
You. Tune in next time formore health and nutrition conversations
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com