Trial reportJournal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition2025
Low-dose caffeine enhances cognitive processing but not physical performance in fatigued taekwondo athletes: a randomized crossover trial.
Trial report in Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Caffeinated Brain Part 3: The Effect of Caffeine on Electroencephalography (EEG) During Wakefulness-A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- The Caffeinated Brain Part 1: The Effects of Caffeine on Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)-A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.Nutrients · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of acute caffeine supplementation on physical, physiological, and sport-specific performance in female volleyball players: a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Acute effects of 3 and 6 mg·KgJournal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2026Trial
- Acute caffeine strategies for improving performance in combat sports: a structured narrative review.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Neurophysiology of Downhill Mountain Bike Athletes-Benchmark Assessments of Event-Related Potentials.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effects of 4-week astaxanthin supplementation on athletic performance and body composition in young male taekwondo athletes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCaffeine is commonly used to combat fatigue and enhance both cognitive and physical performance. However, its effects on neurophysiological responses and sport-specific performance following fatigue induction remain unclear, particularly in combat sports such as Taekwondo. This study investigated the effects of a 200 mg caffeine dose on physiological markers, electroencephalographic (EEG) brainwave activity, auditory P300 event-related potentials (ERPs), and Taekwondo-specific performance following combined mental and physical fatigue.
methodsThirteen male Taekwondo athletes participated in a randomized, double-blind, crossover study with caffeine (CAF) and placebo (PLA) conditions. Measurements were taken at baseline (pre-supplementation), 30 minutes post-supplementation (post-Sup), and after fatigue induction (post-I). Physiological parameters (heart rate, blood glucose, blood lactate, and ratings of perceived exertion), EEG brainwave activity during resting eyes-open conditions, auditory P300 ERPs, and Taekwondo-specific agility (TSAT) were assessed at all time points.
resultsCaffeine significantly reduced delta wave power at frontal and parieto-occipital sites at post-Sup (
conclusionA single 200 mg dose of caffeine reduced central fatigue and enhanced cognitive processing, as reflected by suppressed delta wave activity at post-Sup and increased P300 amplitude at post-I. However, caffeine did not influence physiological responses or Taekwondo-specific performance. These findings suggest that low-dose caffeine primarily benefits cognitive function rather than physical performance in combat sports. Future studies should explore dose-response relationships and individual variability in caffeine metabolism to optimize its application in competitive settings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.