Energy Drinks May Not Impact Excess Postexercise Oxygen Consumption: Considerations for Pre-exercise Test Recommendations

Background: The present study aimed to determine whether energy drink (ED) formulas containing 140 and 100 mg of caffeine have the potential to alter excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) responses after an incremental exercise test in males and females. Materials and Methods: Participants were submitted to incremental tests to exhaustion after receiving EDs containing 140 and 100 mg of caffeine and a placebo in a randomized order. Results: EPOC was greater in ED containing 140 mg of caffeine (9.47 +/- 0.37 L; p < 0.05), but not in 100 mg (9.20 +/- 0.374.4 L; p = 0.31) in relation to placebo (8.84 +/- 0.37 L). Conclusion: Ingesting an ED containing 140 mg of caffeine may affect EPOC after an incremental exercise to exhaustion. ED containing 100 mg of caffeine, ingested 2 hours before exercise, may not promote changes in EPOC following an incremental exercise to exhaustion protocol and could be acceptable before exercise testing in caffeine habituated young adults. This study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov under the identifier NCT04455009.