As more athletes turn to energy drinks to enhance their athletic performance, it begs the question — are those drinks really helping? The primary ingredient in energy drinks is caffeine. But they generally pack much more of a punch than other types of caffeinated beverages:.

Text StartHere to to sign up for text alerts. In addition to caffeine, energy drinks contain other listed or unlisted stimulants and ingredients that compound the effects of caffeine, such as:.

Some of these substances are also banned or limited for competitive athletes by the NCAA and World Anti-Doping Agency. Energy drinks and caffeinated beverages should not be used for hydration before, during or after physical activity.

If they are consumed too close to the time of exercise, they can cause:. PRE-WORKOUT POWDERS Pre-Workout Powders. C4 Original. C4 Energy. BEST SELLERS Shop All C4 Energy Products. C4 Performance Energy® Carbonated. View product 12 Pack Frozen Bombsicle Strawberry Watermelon Ice Orange Slice Cherry Limeade Arctic Snow Cone Midnight Cherry Grape Frost.

With Any Subscription. C4 Smart Energy®. View product 12 Pack Peach Mango Tropical Passionfruit Cherry Berry Lime Watermelon Burst Blue Raspberry - Digital Exclusive Blood Orange Yuzu Strawberry Guava Black Cherry - Digital Exclusive.

View product 12 Pack Arctic Snow Cone Fruit Punch Orange Cream. C4 Smart Energy® Tropical Oasis Variety Pack. The results showed that subjects increased their running time during the incremental test on average for 7. The overall increase in the energy drink condition was 1.

With regard to the individual, 20 athletes stayed on the treadmill longer than the intrapersonal control group after consuming energy drinks. In comparison, the placebo group achieved better or longer times of running, only 12 times compared to the energy drink group.

The mean value of the relative maximum oxygen intake from the energy drink group differed significantly from that of the placebo drink group, indicating that consuming the energy drink positively effects aerobic endurance performance It revealed that no significances emerged from the comparison of the individual items after statistical analysis.

It should be noted that a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over study was carried out in the present study. Still, there are several limitations to be mentioned that might affect the results. But due to the randomized cross-over design half of the energy drink and the placebo drink group had no prior experience with the measuring system in the first test.

At the same time, the study was carried out double-blind, whereby in contrast to a blind design, an improvement in the quality of the study design was brought about, since both the test subject and the test leader did not know about the group membership and thus the drink taken on the test day.

With half-lives of one hour for taurine and four to six hours for caffeine, the amounts of caffeine or taurine taken in were rinsed out before the next day of the study 9 , However, we did not asked subjects to fill out a food diary to precisely record both the amount and type of food consumed to control the effect of calories or especially carbohydrate intake The energy drink also contained ginseng and guarana to a very low amount 0.

The daily amount of caffeine ingestion could also have an influence to the results of the study. Examples of side effects can include nervousness, headache, restlessness, stomach problems, sleep disorders or rapid heartbeat 10 , Conflict of Interest The authors have no conflict of interest.

Home Archive Archive Issue 6 Effects of Caffeine-Containing Energy Drinks on Endurance Performance and Side Effects: A Randomized Cross-Over Study. DOI: accepted: September