Effects of caffeine and carbohydrate mouth rinses on repeated sprint performance

Abstract

Our purpose was to examine the effectiveness of carbohydrate and caffeine mouth rinses in enhancing repeated sprint ability. Previously, studies have shown that a carbohydrate mouth rinse (without ingestion) has beneficial effects on endurance performance that are related to changes in brain activity. Caffeine ingestion has also demonstrated positive effects on sprint performance. However, the effects of carbohydrate or caffeine mouth rinses on intermittent sprints have not been examined previously. Twelve males performed 5 × 6-s sprints interspersed with 24 s of active recovery on a cycle ergometer. Twenty-five milliliters of either a noncaloric placebo, a 6% glucose, or a 1.2% caffeine solution was rinsed in the mouth for 5 s prior to each sprint in a double-blinded and balanced cross-over design. Postexercise maximal heart rate and perceived exertion were recorded, along with power measures. A second experiment compared a combined caffeine-carbohydrate rinse with carbohydrate only. Compared with the placebo mouth rinse, carbohydrate substantially increased peak power in sprint 1 (22.1 ± 19.5 W; Cohen's effect size (ES), 0.81), and both caffeine (26.9 ± 26.9 W; ES, 0.71) and carbohydrate (39.1 ± 25.8 W; ES, 1.08) improved mean power in sprint 1. Experiment 2 demonstrated that a combination of caffeine and carbohydrate improved sprint 1 power production compared with carbohydrate alone (36.0 ± 37.3 W; ES, 0.81). We conclude that carbohydrate and (or) caffeine mouth rinses may rapidly enhance power production, which could have benefits for specific short sprint exercise performance. The ability of a mouth-rinse intervention to rapidly improve maximal exercise performance in the absence of fatigue suggests a central mechanism.

The Effects of Carbohydrate Mouth Rinse Concentration on Cycling Time Trial Performance

“…To this end, Phillips et al (2014) showed that following a series of 5-second CHO mouth rinses, peak power output increased 2.3% from 13.20 ± 2.14Wkg -1 to 13.51 ± 2.19Wkg -1 . Beaven et al (2013) found similar improvements in sprint performance following just one, 5sec CHO mouth rinse. Peak power increased 22.1 ± 19.5W compared with the sprint following a placebo rinse.…”

The Development of a Menthol Solution for Use during Sport and Exercise

“…Other ergogenic effects are likely dependent upon the exercise mode undertaken [2][3][4][5] and active ingredients within the swill, e.g., Caffeine [2,6], Carbohydrate [7,8] or Menthol [3]. These ingredients may also be combined with other ergogenic strategies to maximise the influence upon physiological and psychological determinants of fatigue [9][10][11].…”

The effect of carbohydrate mouth rinse on a 30-minute arm cranking performance

“…Different methodological factors have been shown to influence the effect that CHO mouth rinse has on performance, such as the duration of the solution being in the mouth (Pottier et al, 2010;Sinclair et al, 2014), nutritional status (Beelen et al, 2009;Carter et al, 2004;Fares and Kayser, 2011;Lane et al, 2013) and the type of exercise being undertaken (Beaven et al, 2013;Bortolotti et al, 2013;Chong et al, 2011;Dorling and Earnest, 2013). Not all studies using CHO mouth rinse have reported significant improvements in performance (Beelen et al, 2009), however the majority of these studies did observe improvements in performance just not with statistical significance.…”