Hi,

I've sent a similar message out on teamail, but I'd like to get some of
your feedback aswell. I'm curious what place you think tea has as a
dietary supplement for enhanced performance in sport. Caffeine is in
fact a banned substance by WADA (world anti-doping agency), but the
limit is high enough that It's almost impossible to consume enough tea
or coffee to test positive.

I've attended numerous nutrition seminars and the typical idea is that
tea is bad in sports because it can act as a diuretic.

I'd like your opinion on tea and sport. Does it have a place as a
dietary supplement to enhance performance? Will it actually enhance
performance? Is it ethical?

Sincerely,

Robert Hanson
http://www.hansontea.com

teadave

Well, you've asked a lot of questions here, so I'll answer those that I
can.

Tea as a dietary enhancement? Probably not, since the majority of the
chemicals which are supposed to be beneficial are released only by
steeping the tea in very hot water. I doubt that stomach acid or
anything else in the digestive system would work quite as well, so
someone taking tea leaves probably wouldn't get much effect, if any. If
you drink tea, I don't think it qualifies as a dietary suppliment,
since it doesn't really contain that much solid matter anyway. I think
the primary effectiveness of tea as a health suppliment would come from
a placebo effect, rather than anything actually in the leaves
themselves.

I wouldn't associate tea with sport, simply because hot tea doesn't
sound very nice if you're hot and dripping sweat from running around
for a while. Maybe iced tea would be drunk by an athlete, but more
likely for the effects of the sugar and caffiene. And as you mentioned,
tea is a diuretic as well, so that might discourage athletes in some
sports from drinking it. Personally I don't see why caffiene would be
banned by an anti-doping agency, since it would take a lot of caffiene
to cause any major effect, and than it would lead to a major crash,
causing worse performance later.

Is the use of caffiene ethical? I think that caffiene has such minor
effects, and wouldn't help an athlete much other than being a placebo,
so it comes with the same ethical questions that could be considered if
an athlete used a good luck charm, or had religious beliefs which
concerned thier athletic performance.

Personally I just drink tea because I like the taste, and find it to be
a very pleasant drink. I have actually drank it before participating in
sports or work myself, but usually to keep me awake, and generally not
in the hotest parts of the day. I can't say I've ever noticed any
physical benefits, only extra stimulation of my nervous system.

Thanks for a thoughtful response.

Just to clear one thing up, I was referring to brewed tea (hot or
cold). I agree that consuming tea leaves "straight" would likely not
have much effect other than possibly placebo.

There are a couple of areas where I do think tea could have a positive
effect on athletic performance. First, as a stimulant used just prior
to a game/competition I think that tea could act as a pick up for
players. I heard that in the NFL after ephedrine was banned a lot of
people started drinking yerba mate and matcha right before game time.
Also, caffeine has been shown to increase performance in endurance
athletes by mobilizing fat stores, which are then used in energy
production. Caffeine has been shown to reduce glycogen consumption in
muscle in experimental tests. I personally know that many world class
runners in Kenya drink a large amount of rich black tea. I guess the
argument could be made that it's caffeine that's the real performance
enhancer and not tea. However, there are other stimulants found in
tea, namely Theophylline, which may have other positive effects.

Caffeine is banned under the category of stimulants along with a whole
list of other seemingly non performance enhancing substances. I agree
that it shouldn't be there. But alcohol and cannaboid are also on the
banned list, and I think these two substances should be taken off
before caffeine is.

Although not tea, I think Rooibos could provide positive benefits when
consumed after a workout. It's high in electrolytes and has a general
relaxing effect.

Robert Hanson
http://www.hansontea.com

blair p. houghton

Caffeine has one interesting effect re training:

If you are NOT habituated to caffeine and you drink a cup of coffee
shortly before doing cardio. your body's metabolic setpoint is raised,
meaning that at any given calorie output you will burn more fat and
less carbs than if you had not had the caffeine. If you drink a lot of
coffee anyway, you'll see no difference.

Of course, you'll burn exactly as many calories either way, so in the
end your body's energy balance for the day won't be any different,
provided your calorie intake is the same in either case, so over time
your rate of fat loss or gain won't be changed, it will just spike more
towards the loss-rate side during caffeine-enhanced cardio. Changing
your macronutrient ratios (protein/carb/fat) won't make a difference
either, because your body converts carbs and protein to fat at will.
So saving carbs during your workout will result in replacing fat during
digestion.

And for competitive purposes this is counterproductive, since burning
carbs actually lets you go faster with less pain anyway. You want to
avoid the moderate caffeine and use easily-burned carbs (honey, sports
gel, etc) instead. Large amounts of caffeine do create a hyperactive
state, but, as you said, that's banned.

The diuretic effect can be ameliorated by drinking more fluids, though
carrying and obtaining more fluids may be itself detrimental to your
pace, as will peeing.

--Blair