Caffeine or carbohydrate mouth rinse, both or neither? 💦

Is mouth rinse still an ergogenic strategy?

Effects of carbohydrate, caffeine, and combined mouth rinses on physiological and perceptual responses during high-intensity interval exercise following a pre-exercise meal: a double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover trial

Study Details

This new study investigated the effects of 4 mouth rinse conditions on performance…

1️⃣ 10% maltodextrin (CHO)

2️⃣ 1.2% caffeine (CAF)

3️⃣ CHO + CAF

4️⃣ water (PLA)

12 active males completed all 4 conditions during high-intensity interval exercise trials involving 8 bouts of 1-min cycling at 85% of peak power output 🚴

Mouth rinses were used twice in each trial (after warm-up and interval 4)🥤

Participants were also fed a standardised (1 g/kg CHO) breakfast hour before testing 🍽️

(much of the previous research with mouth rinses has been in fasted conditions)

Here is what they found ⬇️

Key Findings

Ratings of perceived exertion were significantly different between conditions after interval 4 🧠

🥇 CHO: 12.3 ± 1.6

🥈 CHO+CAF: 12.7 ± 1.7

🥉 CAF: 13.5 ± 2.2

4️⃣ PLA: 13.7 ± 2.4

With carb containing mouth rinses showing the most favourable outcomes ✅

But no significant effects were observed for…

❌ heart rate

❌ blood glucose

❌ blood lactate

❌ affective valence

❌ perceived activation

❌ affective responses

Conclusion

There appears to be a limited ergogenic benefit of CHO and/or CAF mouth rinse when in a fed condition‼️

Those who train in fasted conditions may still benefit, but in a fed state mouth rinsing may not offer significant performance improvements 🤷‍♂️

Reference

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40966095/

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