Subjective Responses to Caffeine Are Influenced by Caffeine Dose, Sex, and Pubertal Stage

Abstract

Our previous work has shown that there are sex differences in subjective responses to acute caffeine administration in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine if these sex differences are dependent on pubertal development. We examined subjective responses before and after administration of 0, 1, and 2 mg/kg of caffeine in pre- and postpubertal boys and girls ( = 112). In addition, we examined differences in subjective responses to acute caffeine in both the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle in postpubertal girls. Caffeine at both doses resulted in greater changes in responses on the Addiction Research Center Inventory and the Brief Assessment of Mood States compared with placebo. Girls reported greater increases from baseline to peak in feeling different and liking the feeling than boys after 2 mg/kg of caffeine regardless of pubertal stage. Postpubertal girls also had a greater decrease from baseline in reports of feeling high and greater increases from baseline in reports of wanting more than postpubertal males. Finally, girls had greater changes (both increases and decreases) in responses on the Brief Mood Questionnaire when in the follicular phase compared with the luteal phase. This was also true for reports of feeling high and feeling different on the Drug Effects Questionnaire. None of these effects varied as a function of usual caffeine use, suggesting that differences are not the result of tolerance or sensitization. These results suggest that subjective responses to caffeine emerge before puberty, but sex differences may be strengthened after pubertal development.

Acute caffeine supplementation promotes small to moderate improvements in performance tests indicative of in-game success in professional female basketball players

“…It is important to examine the ergogenic effect of caffeine supplementation independently in D r a f t female and male players given sex-related differences in physiological and performance responses have been reported with caffeine ingestion (Dalbo et al 2010;Schrader et al 2013;Temple and Ziegler 2011;Temple et al 2015). Therefore, the aim of our study was to determine the effect of caffeine supplementation on anaerobic performance in professional, female, basketball players.…”

The Effect of Caffeine on the Velocity of Half-Squat Exercise during the Menstrual Cycle: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Sabblah et al (2015) examined the effects of 5 mg/kg/bm of caffeine on the bench press and squat one repetition maximum (1RM) in both men and women and found there was a tendency towards an ergogenic effect of caffeine in the weight lifted in males only. Nevertheless, one common limitation of these investigations is that none of the studies controlled for the potential effects of the menstrual cycle on muscle performance [12] nor for the possible interaction of caffeine with the fluctuations of female sex hormones during the menstrual cycle [13,14].…”

“…Then, the ergogenicity of caffeine to increase muscle strength might be higher in the days when the concentration of natural estrogens is higher (i.e., late follicular phase) because the serum caffeine concentration would remain longer than in the menstrual cycle phases were serum estrogen concentrations are low (i.e., menses and luteal phase) [19]. In addition, previous investigations have reported higher caffeine-induced effects on cardiovascular and subjective variables in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase [13,20]. With this background of knowledge, to date it is difficult to ascertain whether acute caffeine intake could improve muscle performance in women during resistance exercise.…”

Review: Trends, Safety, and Recommendations for Caffeine Use in Children and Adolescents

“…56 Girls exhibited more extreme changes in subjective responses after acute caffeine relative to boys, and these differences were amplified after puberty. 57 Finally, sex differences have been reported for cardiovascular response to acute caffeine, with boys showing a greater increase in blood pressure than girls, but only after puberty. 58 These studies suggest that sex differences in response to caffeine emerge after puberty and that these sex differences could, perhaps, have an impact on caffeine consumption later in life.…”