Trial reportJournal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition2025
A caffeine and theacrine combination improves cognitive performance in tactical personnel under physically fatiguing conditions.
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 2 papers.
What it found
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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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Theacrine as a novel ergogenic aid: impact on canoe sprint performance.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Trial
- Systematic Identification of Characteristic Metabolites and Analysis of Quality and Metabolomic Profiles of Yunnan Kucha White Tea.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOptimizing human performance under stressful physical and cognitive conditions is paramount during high-stakes military operations. As such, interventions to improve warfighter performance by mitigating task-induced cognitive performance deficits are necessary. While caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world, common side effects (i.e. anxiousness, micro-saccades, irritability) may be detrimental to warfighter operations. Theacrine, a purine alkaloid similar in structure to caffeine but with a longer half-life, less habituation, and fewer side effects, is proposed as a caffeine-alternative to enhance cognitive resilience.
methodsTactically trained participants (
resultsBoth CAF and CTC consistently enhanced cognitive and physical performance compared to PLA. In the Two-Back task, CTC showed significantly higher total accuracy (
conclusionSIngestion of CAF and CTC improved various measures of cognitive performance before, and after fatiguing exercise. Furthermore, CTC had additional cognitive benefits beyond CAF. Thus, combining lower-dose caffeine and theacrine may improve cognitive-behavioral performance before and after fatiguing exercise to an equal or greater degree than higher doses of caffeine alone. This combination offers a non-pharmacological intervention for those who experience side effects with caffeine to mitigate the impact of physical and cognitive stress. Future research should examine higher doses of theacrine alone or with caffeine, chronic supplementation, extended exercise durations, and different cognitive metrics under varied stress and environmental conditions.
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