Research Finds Coffee Improves Physical Endurance in Warren and the Metro Detroit Area

Ask the average coffee drinker in Warren and The Metro Detroit Area what they like most about coffee, and you’ll hear a range of answers. The taste. The pick-me-up. The break from the routine. The social aspect. All benefits having to do with improving one’s mental performance.

But physical performance is also entering the discussion, thanks to recent scientific research. According to a University of Georgia study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, coffee can improve an athlete’s physical endurance. Researcher Simon Higgins reviewed more than 600 scholarly articles studying the effects of caffeine on physical endurance. He discovered that randomized control trials indicated coffee improves endurance.

Higgins, a third-year doctoral student in kinesiology in the College of Education, found that between 3 and 7 milligrams per kilogram of body weight of caffeine from coffee improved endurance performance by an average of 24 percent. The subjects in the trials either cycled or ran after drinking coffee. They then exercised vigorously and the results were measured. In most cases, endurance noticeably improved. These benefits are referred to as “ergogenic,” meaning they enhance physical performance.

This new research will be interesting to Warren and The Metro Detroit Area customers involved in sports and recreational activities, and those with physically demanding jobs. Higgins also realized that more research is needed on the use of caffeine from coffee versus pure caffeine use. “There’s the potential that getting your caffeine by drinking coffee has similar endurance benefits as taking caffeine pills,” Julius Zanoni said. “Previous research has focused on caffeine itself as an aid to improve endurance. While there is a lack of high-quality research on coffee as a source of caffeine, there is an abundance of research on pure caffeine. It’s surprising how little we know about caffeine from coffee when its endurance effects could be just as beneficial as pure caffeine.”

“There’s a perception that coffee won’t give you the same benefits as pure caffeine,” he said. “New research could mean that athletes could have a cup of coffee versus taking a pill.”

More research is needed before giving official recommendations to athletes, Higgins noted, especially since the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can vary depending on how it’s prepared. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee can vary from 75 mg to more than 150, depending on the variety and how it’s roasted and brewed.
“There is a caveat to athletes using coffee: Be careful because you don’t know how much caffeine is in some coffee, especially when it’s prepared by someone else,” Julius Zanoni said. Athletes should discuss their caffeine with their sports dietician since the NCAA lists it as a banned substance.

These findings are among several health-related benefits associated with coffee in recent years. It’s safe to say that coffee’s effect on human health has been rehabilitated. Recent studies have also credited moderate coffee intake with reducing the risk of heart disease, brain cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other conditions. Improving your physical endurance is one of many benefits of drinking coffee.

To find out more about coffee solutions for your Warren and The Detroit Metro Area business, contact your office coffee services partner, American Vending group.

A Steady Addiction in Warren and the Metro Detroit Area

According to a study by Gallup Inc., an American research-based, global performance-management consulting company, the amount of coffee drinkers in the U.S. along with the amount of coffee they drink are steady, which is interesting when you consider that coffee shops are reportedly the fastest-growing segment of the restaurant industry.

Coffee shops are on the rise (40% growth from 1999-2005) while coffee consumption has been the same in similar studies ran both in 2012 and 1999. In all studies 64% of Americans consistently drink at least 1 cup a day. Here’s how that 64% breaks down:

26% drink at least 1 cup a day

19% drink at least 2 cups a day

8% drink at least 3 cups a day

11% drink at least 4 cups a day

The remaining 36% drink none

Here are a few more numbers worth mentioning:

26% of coffee drinkers consider themselves addicted to coffee but only 10% think they should drink less. And with more and more studies showing the positive effects (improved concentration/memory, lower risk of certain types of cancers, Parkinson’s and stroke) of caffeine, there may not be a need to.

What does this mean for your Warren and the Metro Detroit Areaoffice coffee program?

It’s simple. Keep offering high quality coffee to your employees to help them stay focused and feel appreciated throughout the work day. Statistically 64% of your population will appreciate this added benefit.

And although our coffee consumption hasn’t changed in volume some things have changed for taste. For instance, we now know that a large portion of the population prefers a light roast. Make sure you are offering a full line (light, medium and dark roasts) to keep your full 64% at the office for their coffee breaks.

And for the other 36% make sure you are offering a high quality tea that matches your coffee brand in perceived value. Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, second only to water and you don’t want your office tea drinkers to feel less appreciated than the coffee crowd.

Looking to improve your office coffee service in Warren and throughout the Metro Detroit Area? Call American Vending today 248.895.2606. One of our team members Julius Zanoni will be happy to discuss improvements that can be made to your current program while sticking to your budget.

Reference Link: http://americanvendingllc.com/blog/?p=97

Can Blogging Make a Difference?

When Michigan State University doctoral student Todd Ide needed a research topic for a large-scale study required for his Ph.D., he looked at the classes he was teaching in his role as a graduate assistant. He wondered if there was a meaningful way to incorporate Web 2.0 into his curriculum for “Reading and Responding to Children’s Literature.” He reviewed current literature about blogging in education and saw an opportunity to further the research.

Formal studies about incorporating blogs into curricula were minimal, and what was out there was more anecdotal in nature, said Ide. “Most other studies reflected what the researcher’s experience was and what they believed the students took from the experience,” said Ide. “What I found lacking was research that examined blogging’s effectiveness from the student perspective. There was little discussion of student perceptions concerning the value of blogging as an activity or whether the students believed blogging impacted their learning.”

Ide began with a pilot study in 2009, which sought to answer three main questions:

• Does participating in a blog help reinforce learning that is done in the classroom by extending these conversations outside the confines of class hours?
• Do students believe that participating in a blog was valuable to their learning and understanding of key course concepts?
• Do students view the blog as a positive addition to their course learning or as another obstacle or requirement to be completed?

Another goal was to offer insights to instructors as to how to incorporate blogging in a way that is beneficial to students. “Most educators use technology for administrative tasks rather than instruction because they don’t feel prepared and aren’t getting the technical support needed. The results of the study, I believed, could help suggest best practices for using blogs as learning tools.”

Nature of the Blog
While there are certainly plenty of other Web 2.0 communications media from which he could have chosen, Ide decided to study blogging because it combines solitary thought and social interaction to engage students and reinforce learning. The theory is that blogging increases collaboration, helps students transform and refine their ideas owing to the reflective and interactive nature, and improves critical thinking. Blogging disrupts and transforms, said Ide. In addition, blogs, these days, take very little time for a teacher to set up. “The ease of blogging with new tools such as Wordpress and Medium and the fact they are hosted and are free to use, also make it easier to get started,” said Ide.

Another reason Ide chose blogs as the topic of his research is that blog posts are accessible to a large global audience. According to Ide, blog search companyTechnorati reported more than 133 million blogs in existence, and there are currently 346 million people globally reading the 900,000 blog entries that are posted every 24 hours.

“The numbers are not consistent,” he said, “but it’s explosive, and it’s trending vertically. This means that blogging allows students to publish their thoughts and ideas in a public venue that potentially has a worldwide audience. This public exposure should lead to students being even more reflective and thoughtful about their posts and comments, because anyone and everyone around the world can view what they write.”

To Find Out
Eight out of 25 students in Ide’s “Reading and Responding to Children’s Literature” class volunteered to participate in the study. Ide set up the blog before the semester began. “We used Blogger mainly because it’s free and fairly intuitive when learning how to use it,” he said. “Students were given author access so they could create posts and comments.”