Acute Caffeine Consumption Prior to Aerobic Exercise Does Not Influence Substrate Utilization in Recreationally Trained Males and Females Original Research

Main Article Content

Christopher Irvine
Mason Browning
Sofia Brustia
Violet Carter
Dylan Beridon
Ryan Gordon
Matthew Sokoloski

Keywords

sex-specific, fat, carbohydrate intake

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to examine if acute caffeine consumption influenced substrate utilization between recreationally trained males and females during submaximal aerobic exercise.
Methods: Implementing a counter-balanced, crossover design study, 14 recreationally trained males (n = 7) and females (n = 7) consumed either 4 mg/kg of caffeine in 8 oz of water (CAFF) 60 min prior to aerobic exercise at varying submaximal intensities or the solitary consumption of 8 oz of water (CON). Substrate utilization was assessed via indirect calorimetry by measuring the respiratory exchange ratio.  
Results: There were no significant main effects for substrate utilization between sexes for the CAFF (p = .265) or CON (p = .253) trial. There were also no significant main effects for independent sex analysis between the two conditions (males, p = .917; females, p = .869).
Conclusions: This study suggests no significant difference in substrate utilization between sexes when consuming caffeine. Although previous literature has indicated caffeine has the potential to increase fat utilization during moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, the current results revealed that caffeine also had no impact on substrate utilization when independently analyzing males and females.

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