Which caffeine effect is listed as a potential athletic benefit?

Which caffeine effect is listed as a potential athletic benefit?

• A. Increased appetite
• B. Dehydration risk reduction
• C. Improve aerobic endurance during short-term, extreme exercise
• D. Increased heart rate at rest

Answer: (C)

Caffeine can act as an ergogenic aid for endurance-type performance. It helps athletes go longer by reducing perceived effort and fatigue, which lets you sustain aerobic activity longer than you otherwise might. It also influences fuel use, encouraging greater fat oxidation and sparing muscle glycogen, which can delay the point of fatigue during sustained effort. Because of these effects, caffeine is most consistently associated with improved aerobic endurance in endurance-style activities, including shorter, intense endurance efforts where the body relies heavily on the aerobic system. The other options don’t reflect a true athletic benefit. Caffeine tends to suppress appetite rather than increase it, so appetite rise isn’t a benefit. It doesn’t reliably reduce dehydration risk—at higher doses caffeine can even have diuretic effects, though habitual use may blunt this. And while caffeine does raise heart rate, that isn’t a desirable or beneficial effect for athletic performance in itself.

Caffeine can act as an ergogenic aid for endurance-type performance. It helps athletes go longer by reducing perceived effort and fatigue, which lets you sustain aerobic activity longer than you otherwise might. It also influences fuel use, encouraging greater fat oxidation and sparing muscle glycogen, which can delay the point of fatigue during sustained effort. Because of these effects, caffeine is most consistently associated with improved aerobic endurance in endurance-style activities, including shorter, intense endurance efforts where the body relies heavily on the aerobic system.

The other options don’t reflect a true athletic benefit. Caffeine tends to suppress appetite rather than increase it, so appetite rise isn’t a benefit. It doesn’t reliably reduce dehydration risk—at higher doses caffeine can even have diuretic effects, though habitual use may blunt this. And while caffeine does raise heart rate, that isn’t a desirable or beneficial effect for athletic performance in itself.