The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of acute caffeine consumption on lipid oxidation and performance during aerobic exercise. Fifteen healthy male individuals, 22.3 ± 2.7 years old, performed a progressive test on treadmill for determination of maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and ventilatory thresholds. Each volunteer performed three submaximal tests at the intensity of 10% below the second ventilatory threshold, being guided to remain on exercise until exhaustion. Thirty minutes before each submaximal test, the subjects ingested 250ml of one of following drinks: coffee with sweetener (CSW), coffee with sugar (CS) or decaffeinated coffee with sweetener (CD). During the exercise, the individuals's heart rate was monitored and respiratory gases analyses were done. The lipid oxidation was predicted by the respiratory quotient (RQ) during the test and performance was verified by exercise duration. In order to compare the RQ results and time of exercise among the three groups, factorial Anova was used, and a value of p < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The individuals had VO2max of 50.18 ± 9.9 ml/kg/min. CAD ingestion caused RQ average of 0.98 ± 0.18, and the average exercise duration was of 24.1 ± 17.04 min; CA ingestion caused RQ average of 0.96 ± 0.2 and the average exercise duration was 24.4 ± 17.8 min. Finally, CD ingestion caused the RQ average of 1.01 ± 0.24, and the average exercise duration was of 20.6 ± 9.7 min. There were no significant differences in the RQ values or exercise duration among the three interventions (p = 0.697 and p = 0.598, respectively). Caffeine did not increase lipid oxidation or performance of young male individuals.
coffee; aerobic exercise; ergogenic aids
