The Biomedical Features of Caffeine

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Caffeine’s uses into today’s world vary in many forms. The majority of the results from experiments are positive and increase brain function, stamina, and overall performance. In the field of sports and bodybuilding, caffeine is a widely used supplement consumed by athletes to help decrease fatigue. A study done by the American Physiological Society has found evidence that caffeine does in fact reduce fatigue. It works by blocking the adenosine receptors which is the overall cause of tiredness and fatigue. The researchers did a test which involved rats on a treadmill. The rats were injected with caffeine and were allowed them run on a treadmill to see how long it would take for rats to become too tired to continue. The performance of the rats substantially increased when given the caffeine injection. The increase was on average 60% longer than when not having caffeine injected into them. They concluded that because caffeine is an adenosine blocker, it is able to delay fatigue (Davis). Also, companies are incorporating caffeine into supplements called pre-workouts. According to one of the leading fitness magazines Muscle and Fitness, pre-workouts are, “formulated with ingredients that work together to ramp up your energy and endurance, increase strength, crank up muscle growth, and burn off body fat.” (Stoppani). These stimulants are changing the game for how well our body can perform and how it may outlast opponents. A company named Musclepharm created a pre-workout called “Assault”. It has caffeine content of 300mg per serving, along with other amino acids to help power muscular activity. The study that was done consisted of twelve physically fit men in a three week time frame. The study was to see if performance in certain areas of physical activities would increase due to the ingestion of Assault. Along with the physical side of the test, they also did research on the reaction time for audio and visual stimuli. The physical portion pushed the men in certain categories, the main being a leg press machine. After taking one scoop of this pre-workout, the average subject was able to press two more repetitions of their 75% one rep max (maximum amount of force that can be generated in one maximal contraction.) This is a significant gain, proving that this supplement clearly helps fight fatigue and boosts energy. The results from the reaction time study came back along the same lines. The subjects were able to answer to the audio and visual stimuli about .15 seconds faster, showing again clear results. The conclusion of this article on the caffeine-based pre-workout supplement, Assault, showed significant increase in physical ability along with an enhanced reaction time (Spradley).

One more use of caffeine in today’s world and possibly the most popular, is the all-powerful energy drinks. With slogans such as “Red Bull Gives You Wings” and “Monster, Unleash The Beast” leads to the thought of how effective are these energy drinks in our lives. Many athletes have been drinking these energy drinks to see if performance could improve. Much like a pre-workout, which improved the physical and mental capacities of test subjects, energy drinks could possibly have the same effects on people. A study done by the International Society of Sports Nutrition gave proof to the fact that energy drinks do in fact increase an athlete’s ability in the weight room. The study consisted of twelve active men and each were given either 1mg/kg of caffeine, 3mg/kg of caffeine, or a placebo. Physical tests were done on both the upper body (bench press, one rep max) and lower body (squat, one rep max). On average, the participants who ingested 1mg/kg of caffeine had no increase in the test. The participants who were given 3mg/kg of caffeine had on average of a 7% increase in their weight lifted. This increase in performance is significant. The conclusion put together by the International Society of Sports Nutrition states that in order for a person to bench-press or squat more weight, they would have to ingest 3mg/kg of caffeine before their workout (Campbell).

Another positive effect of caffeine is the potential it has to kill certain types of cancer cells. This may seem to be a far-fetched idea, but the near future it may become a plausible concept. In breast cancer, there are certain molecules and compounds that make up the tumor. A major portion of these tumors contain things called fibroblasts, which increase the activity of cancer growth. Recently caffeine has been found to be an anti-cancer agent, more specifically an antioxidant, and can soon one day be used to stop the growth of cancer. This is due to the certain properties caffeine has on the fibroblasts that are participating in the growth of the cancer cells. Studies done by the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Oncology of Saudi Arabia put the hypothesis of caffeine helping to stop the growth of cancer to the test. The scientists found sufficient research and prepared enough tests to conclude that caffeine actually increases the activity of certain tumor suppressing proteins. These proteins are found throughout our body, but are usually not too active, therefore the proteins cannot fully provide protection when tumors do start to grow. Based off the studies, these proteins can increase in activity from the stimulant effects of caffeine. In the department’s conclusion they state that caffeine does normalize these fibroblasts which aid in the cancer-killing potential of caffeine (Al-Ansari). Also, another recent advance in the use of caffeine is its ability to bind to the organometallic gold compounds in a fight against cancer. Organometallic Au (Gold) NHC (N-Heterocyclic Carbenes) compounds bearing caffeine-type ligands have been synthesized and characterized as promising anticancer agents (Bertrand). Although significant research has not been brought forth, there is a major potential for scientific advances for caffeine in its fight to kill cancer cells.

Lastly, there has been an advance in stem cell research with incorporating this great compound of caffeine. Recently, skin cells have now been found to be transformed into early-stage embryonic stem cells by adding a drop or two of caffeine into the process. One study done by the Advanced Cell Technology group in Marlborough, Massachusetts produced these significant results (Connor). Also, a group from the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland came up with the same results. For the skin cells to be transformed into these embryonic stem cells, caffeine had to be introduced to the cell and had to combine with each other for about two hours. Through the combination of the two, the caffeine had time to react correctly with the skin cells and produce amazing results. This is all done through a process called somatic cell nuclear transplant, a process in which scientists