Most of us have known for a while that a cup of coffee can ratchet up mental alertness and physical quickness, but we’ve never known exactly why. Now we some idea. Scientists at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences of the University of Birmingham in England studied a group of eight cyclists, who took part in three
two-hour exercise sessions. For each of the three trials, the cyclists
took one of three different sports drinks _ glucose, glucose mixed with
caffeine and water. The caffeine, which was equal to about four cups of coffee an hour, increased rate at which carbohydrates were absorbed by about 26 percent. The scientists who conducted the research remind us that they did not look for an increase in performance; they simply measured the availability of carbs. One scientist suggests that there might be easier ways of doing that–like eating more carbs. Read more in the Washington Post.