Dataset Information

A randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

"Energy drinks" are heavily marketed to the general public, across the age spectrum. The efficacy of decaffeinated energy drinks in enhancing subjective feelings of energy (s-energy) is controversial.

Objective

The authors sought to test the efficacy of the caffeine-free version of a popular energy drink compared with a placebo drink.

Methods

This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in 223 healthy men and women aged 18-70 y with intention-to-treat and completers analysis. Participants were randomly assigned to consumption of either the decaffeinated energy drink or a placebo drink on testing day 1, and the other drink a week later. A battery of computer-based mood and cognitive tests to assess s-energy was conducted at baseline and at 0.5, 2.5, and 5 h post-ingestion. The main outcome measures were 1) mood, which was assessed by using a General Status Check Scale and the Profile of Mood States 2nd edition brief form, and 2) cognitive measures, including the N-back task (reaction time and accuracy), Reaction Time test, Flanker task (distraction avoidance), and Rapid Visual Information Processing test.

Results

No statistically significant or meaningful benefits were observed for any outcome measure, including mood and cognitive measures. Analyses of mean differences, slopes, and median differences were consistent.

Conclusions

No differences were detected across a range of mood/cognitive/behavioral/s-energy-level tests after consumption of the energy drink compared with a placebo drink in this diverse sample of adults. Thus, we found strong evidence that the energy drink is not efficacious in enhancing s-energy levels, nor any related cognitive or behavioral variables measured. In light of federal regulations, these findings suggest that labeling and marketing of some products which claim to provide these benefits may be unsubstantiated. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02727920.

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Alvarez A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7049526 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy.

Garcia-Alvarez Alicia A Cunningham Corbin A CA Mui Byron B Penn Lia L Spaulding Erin M EM Oakes J Michael JM Divers Jasmin J Dickinson Stephanie L SL Xu Xiao X Cheskin Lawrence J LJ

The American journal of clinical nutrition 20200301 3

<h4>Background</h4>"Energy drinks" are heavily marketed to the general public, across the age spectrum. The efficacy of decaffeinated energy drinks in enhancing subjective feelings of energy (s-energy) is controversial.<h4>Objective</h4>The authors sought to test the efficacy of the caffeine-free version of a popular energy drink compared with a placebo drink.<h4>Methods</h4>This study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in 223 healthy men and women aged 18-70 y w ...[more]

PMID: 31990972

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Project description:BackgroundEnergy drinks are often consumed by the general population, as well as by active individuals seeking to enhance exercise performance and augment training adaptations. However, limited information is available regarding the efficacy of these products. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a commercially available caffeine- and protein-containing energy drink on metabolism and muscular performance.MethodsSixteen resistance-trained males (n = 8; mean ± SD; age: 22.4 ± 4.9 years; body mass: 78.8 ± 14.0 kg; body fat: 15.3 ± 6.4%) and females (n = 8; age: 24.5 ± 4.8 years; body mass: 67.5 ± 11.9 kg; body fat: 26.6 ± 7.1%) participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Following a familiarization visit, participants completed two identical visits to the laboratory separated by 5-10 days, each of which consisted of indirect calorimetry energy expenditure (EE) assessments before and after consumption of the beverage (Bang® Keto Coffee; 130 kcal, 300 mg caffeine, 20 g protein) or placebo (30 kcal, 11 mg caffeine, 1 g protein) as well as after exercise testing. In addition, participants' subjective feelings of energy, fatigue, and focus as well as muscular performance (leg press one-repetition maximum and repetitions to fatigue, maximal isometric and isokinetic squat testing) were assessed. Multiple repeated measures ANOVAs with Tukey post-hoc tests were used to analyze data. Estimates of effect size were quantified via partial eta squared (ηP2) and Hedge's g.ResultsA significant interaction effect was identified for EE (p < 0.001, ηP2 = 0.52) but not respiratory exchange ratio (p = 0.17, ηP2 = 0.11). Following consumption of the beverage, EE was 0.18 [corrected] kcal·min- 1 greater than placebo at the post-beverage time point (p < 0.001) and 0.08 [corrected] kcal·min- 1 greater than placebo at the post-exercise time point (p = 0.011). However, no between-condition differences were detected for any subjective or muscular performance outcomes.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that consumption of the energy drink had minimal effects on lower-body muscular performance and subjective factors in the context of a laboratory setting. However, the beverage was found to significantly increase energy expenditure compared to placebo immediately following ingestion as well as during the recovery period after an exercise bout, suggesting that active individuals may improve acute metabolic outcomes via consumption of a caffeine- and protein-containing energy drink.Trial registrationThis trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04180787 ; Registered 29 November 2019).

Project description:UnlabelledIn the current study, sixty healthy older adults aged 50 years or older, and who were light to moderate coffee drinkers, were administered 6g of a decaffeinated green coffee blend (NESCAFÉ Green Blend coffee; GB) or 540mg pure chlorogenic acids (CGA) or placebo in a double-blind acute cross-over design, with cognitive and mood assessments pre-dose, 40-mins and 120-mins post-dose. The primary outcome measure was accuracy in Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP). Secondary cognitive outcome measures included RVIP reaction time as well as Inspection time (IT), Jensen Box decision/reaction times, serial subtraction and N-Back working memory. Secondary mood measures included Bond-Lader and caffeine Research visual analogue scales (VAS). No significant treatment effects were found for the primary outcome measure, although significant effects were found amongst secondary measures. Overall, CGA in isolation was not found to significantly improve cognitive function relative to placebo whereas the GB was found to improve sustained attention as measured by the N-Back task in comparison to placebo overall (t=2.45,p=.05), as well as decision time on a 2-choice reaction time task (Jensen box) in comparison to placebo at 40 minutes post-dose (t=2.45,p=.05). Similarly, GB was found to improve alertness on both the Bond-Lader at 120 minutes relative to CGA (t=2.86, p=0.02) and the caffeine Research VAS relative to CGA (t=3.09, p=0.009) and placebo (t=2.75,p=0.02) at 120 minutes post-dose. Both the GB and CGA were also found to significantly improve symptoms of headache at 120 minutes relative to placebo (t=2.51,p=0.03 and t=2.43,p=.04 respectively), whilst there was a trend towards a reduction in jitteriness with GB and CGA in comparison to placebo at 40 minutes post-dose (t=2.24,p=0.06 and t=2.20,p=0.06 respectively). These findings suggest that the improvements in mood observed with GB, but not the improvements in cognitive function, are likely to some extent to be attributable to CGAs.Trial registrationAustralia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12611000067976 www.anzctr.org.au.

Dataset Information

A randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

A randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a decaffeinated energy drink shows no significant acute effect on mental energy.

Similar Datasets

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