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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

13.11.2021

Adding coffee to post-workout meal speeds up glycogen recovery

After an exhausting workout, athletes replenish their glycogen stores faster if they drink coffee with their post-workout meal. Brazilian researchers discovered a simple nutritional strategy that allows athletes to recover faster.

Study
Biochemists from the Universidade de Brasilia experimented with 11 endurance athletes - with cyclists and triathletes, if you want to know exactly. The researchers got the subjects to cycle according to a protocol in which they used up the glycogen stores in their muscles. They were then given a low-carbohydrate meal, and the athletes had to undergo the procedure again the following morning.

At that time, the researchers removed a piece of muscle tissue from the vastus lateralis of the athletes and measured the amount of glycogen in the muscles. Shortly afterwards, the athletes were given a breakfast in two parts. That first consisted of a recovery drink with milk and carbohydrates, and two hours later of eggs and bread.

The researchers performed the test twice. On one occasion the researchers added coffee to the recovery drink and the subjects were given coffee with their lunch [the experimental condition], on the other they did not.

Click on the figure below for a larger version.

Two hours after the solid meal, the Brazilians removed a piece of muscle for a second time. This happened 4 hours after the first muscle biopsy was taken.

Results
In the 4-hour period during which the researchers monitored the glycogen concentration in the athletes' muscles, the subjects' muscles produced no less than six times more glycogen if they drank coffee with their late breakfast.

You can see above how coffee accelerates the recovery of glycogen levels: adding coffee to breakfast augments insulin and glucose levels.

Conclusion
"The addition of coffee to a post-exercise beverage with adequate amounts of carbohydrates is an effective strategy to improve muscle glycogen recovery for those cycling athletes with a short-time recovery (less than 4 h) or competitions with multiple and sequential bouts of exercise", write the Brazilians.

"It is currently not possible to define the exact coffee components underlying the latter effect. However, caffeine, caffeic acid, and cafestol are plausible candidates, given previous findings indicating their effect on insulin secretion and muscle glucose uptake."

"These findings add to the current knowledge on the ergogenic properties of coffee."

Remark
The researchers mentioned cafestol above, but fortunately this substance is not present in significant amounts in conventionally prepared coffee. Perhaps the researchers meant kahweol?

Source:
Nutrients. 2021 Sep 23;13(10):3335.

More:
Whether or not you are used to caffeine, a cup of coffee improves sports performance 18.12.2020
1.9 percent faster running after a cup of coffee 13.12.2019
Coffee better stimulant than caffeine pill for strength athletes 30.04.2016

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