Coffee News: Coffee before exercise won't kill you

"Coffee drinkers, rejoice: You can still safely have that cup of java before your workout.

That's despite the findings of Swiss researchers that the equivalent of two cups of coffee in healthy participants reduced blood flow to the heart after exercise. Their results were published in the Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study showed a small decrease in blood flow in participants, but it was not significant enough to recommend healthy exercisers stop drinking their cup of coffee before a workout, said Dr. Shakun Advani, a cardiologist at the Iowa Heart Center.

"If it's decreased a little, I don't think it can make much difference," Advani said.

She said people with no heart problems would have adequate "flow reserve," which is the capacity to increase blood flow to keep up with the demands of exercise. "I don't think it will matter because they have such a good flow reserve anyway."

"I think the take-home lesson is that it won't improve your performance, for sure . . ³ but it may actually decrease the performance."

Eighteen young, healthy people who were regular coffee drinkers took part in the study. They did not have coffee for 36 hours before the testing."

Full article here.

February 23, 2006

Coffee News: Coffee before exercise won't kill you