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The most consumed drug in the world is Caffeine. Ingested for many years, it is a popular ingredient in beverages and sports supplements alike. Recently, caffeine has had a turbulent time, with reports stating that caffeine consumption is bad for our health, yet contrasting this, new research suggests that caffeine consumption could help reduce the chances of developing conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease (Maia & de Mendonca, 2002). In truth, caffeine is a safe, simple and popular supplement, yet one that delivers a wealth of benefits for not only exercise performance and fat loss but also health and longevity. Caffeine works to ramp up our metabolism by acting as an antagonist of the adenosine A1 and A2a receptors (Davis et al, 2003). Adenosine acts on presynaptic terminals, inhibiting the release of excitatory catecholamines such as noradrenaline and dopamine, effectively, adenosine acts as a brake, slowing down the release of these neurotransmitters. By removing this brake, caffeine stops this reducing mechanism, increasing our endogenous neurotransmitter levels. For an in-depth explanation as to the effects of this increase in neurotransmitter levels on body fat reduction please see our XL Flux write up. We suggest taking Flux if your goal is purely fat reduction due to the synergistic effect of both caffeine and green tea extract on body fat levels. In terms of other functions, an increase in dopamine has an array of effects on behaviour, particularly as it is implied in movement and cognition. Looking directly at exercise performance, caffeine helps to delay the onset of fatigue during exercise (Davis et al, 2003) as well as improving exercise performance (Jenkins et al, 2008). For those who perform a lot of high intensity exercise, caffeine has been shown to reduce blood lactate levels during high performance exercise (Doherty et al, 2004) thus again increasing exercise performance. Many are cautious to use caffeine during exercise as they believe it may increase the risks of dehydration; the evidence suggests otherwise (Kavacs et al, 1998). The effect of caffeine on mood and performance has been known for some time (Lieberman et al, 1987) accordingly, another popular use of caffeine is for its effects on concentration and alertness; predominately due to its increase in catecholamine levels. These effects are indeed vast; helping to improve a range of cognitive proficiencies ranging from time estimation (Stine et al, 2002) to improving cognitive performance after strenuous physical exercise (Hogervorst et al, 1999). These effects are not only limited to young exercising individuals; older individuals too can benefit from caffeine consumption and its cognitive boosting effects (Johnson-Kozlow et al, 2002). Finally, caffeine has been shown to act as an antioxidant (Shi, Dalal & Jain, 1991) helping to reduce markers of stress after exercise (Lee, 2000). For a relatively small cost, caffeine has a great wealth of benefits. XL Caff works particularly well alongside XL Prep, giving a market leading exercise performance increasing effect. References Doherty, M., Smith, P., Hughes, M., & Davison, R. (2004). Caffeine lowers perceptual response and increases power output during high-intensity cycling. J Sports Sci, 7, 637-43. Hogervorst, E., Riedel, W.J., Kovacs, E., Brouns, F., & Jolles, J. (1999). Caffeine improves cognitive performance after strenuous physical exercise Int J Sports Med,6,354-61. Jenkins, N.T., Trilk, J.L., Singhal, A., O’Connor, P.J., & Cureton, K.J. (2008). Ergogenic effects of low dose caffeine on cycling performance. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 3, 328-42. Johnson-Kozlow, M., Kritz-Silverstein, D., Barrett-Connor, E., & Morton, D. (2002). Coffee consumption and cognitive function among older adults. Am J Epidemiol,1,842-50. Kovacs, E.M., Stegen, J.H.C.H, & Brouns, F. (1998). Effect of caffeinated drinks on substrate metabolism, caffeine excretion, and performance. J Appl Physiol,2,709-15. Lee, C. (2000). Antioxidant ability of caffeine and its metabolites based on the study of oxygen radical absorbing capacity and inhibition of LDL peroxidation. Clin Chim Acta, 2, 141- 54. Lieberman, H.R., Wurtman, R.J., Emde, G.G., et al. (1987). The effects of low doses of caffeine on human performance and mood. Psychopharmacology, 92(3), 308-12.
Maia L., & de Mendonca, A. (2002). Does caffeine intake protect from Alzheimer's disease? Eur J Neurol,4,377-82. Shi, X., Dalal, N.S., & Jain, A.C. (1991). Antioxidant behaviour of caffeine: efficient scavenging of hydroxyl radicals. Food Chem Toxicol,1,1-6. Stine, M.M., O'Connor, R.J., Yatko, B.R., Grunberg, N.E., & Klein, L.C. (2002). Evidence for a relationship between daily caffeine consumption and accuracy of time estimation. Hum Psychopharmacol,7,361-7.
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