The study, conducted by Liverpool John Moores University of United Kingdom Olympic athletes found that a third of track and field athletes and 60 per cent of competitive cyclists resort to caffeine as a means to improve performance. As part of the study, the team questioned 480 athletes through athletics or cycling clubs as also at sporting events.
Responding to the study, the participants reported using caffeine in the form of energy drinks, sports supplements, pills and coffee, with professional sportspersons showing a higher affinity to the drug than their casual counterparts. The findings of the study have been published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine.
The study’s finding is ironic, considering that four years ago, the World
Anti-Doping Agency removed caffeine from its banned substance list. Study leader Dr. Neil Chester said though the grounds for exonerating caffeine were not quite clear; it was probably due to the difficulty faced in distinguishing between acceptable social use and abuse of caffeine.
"There's been a lack of communication from WADA and there is a question about whether or not sporting authorities are condoning its use. Ultimately there is a need to clarify the use of caffeine within the present anti-doping legislation," Dr. Chester said.
About the workings of caffeine, Dr Chester opined that caffeine elevates endurance events and alertness of athletes. He added that the fairly recent introduction of caffeine to energy and sports drinks had only made it easier for athletes to consume high doses of the drug.
Seconding his opinion, Canterbury District Health Board public health nutritionist Bronwen King said caffeine has been proved to improve endurance. She explained that caffeine boosts the activity of glycogen, which is the fuel for athletic performance, in the body.
By releasing fats into the bloodstream, caffeine enables the body to use fat also as a fuel in conjunction with glycogen, which naturally makes the glycogen levels last longer. “This allows athletes to keep going when they would usually have hit the wall,” King added.
However, a spokesperson for the WADA cautioned against caffeine saying that its large intake actually damages performance. Dr Samantha Stear, national nutrition lead at the English Institute of Sport, said caffeine affects different people in different ways.
“Some find it beneficial and some don't, it's very dependent on the individual. We try and work with the minimal amount that's needed for the athlete,” Stear said. In the meantime, amid the growing brouhaha over caffeine consumption, athletes from all over the world continue to be energized by cheering cups of caffeine.
Doping has always been a problem in sport, with the Ben Johnson doping scandal hitting the 1988 Olympics hard. The escalating levels of doping in sport have recently been widely criticized, and Beijing officials are equipping themselves with 25% more drug tests than the Athens Olympics to deal with the menace. It remains to be seen whether the authorities will now gear up for caffeine abuse as well.
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