Introduction
The performance-enhancing products claim or are believed to provide greater impetus for the performance of an athlete. However, the claim of such products is seldom tested. This paper studies such a performance-enhancing product to understand the truth behind its claims as a performance enhancer. The product under study is Lucozade Sports Fuel & Focus drink (Lucozade Sports). The paper will present a brief description of the product and then will elaborate on the experimentation that will be conducted to measure the efficacy of the product on sports performance.
The Product
The Lucozade Sports Fuel and Focus drink are expected to increase the mental and physical stamina of an athlete in high endurance or intensity games. The sports drink contains carbohydrates and caffeine and the company claims that it has proven to enhance a sportsman’s performance. The drink is more effective for long-distance running where focus and concentration are the main ingredients for success. It is advised that the drink should be taken 40 to 60 minutes before the game begins such that the caffeine enters the bloodstream of the athlete (Lucozade Sports). The key ingredients of the product are carbohydrates in form of glucose syrup, caffeine, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, preservative, sweeteners, antioxidants, vitamins, and stabilizers (Lucozade Sports). The drinks have a high caffeine content of 16 mg (Lucozade Sports). A combination of carbohydrates and caffeine is said to increase the consistent speed of running and in maintaining the speed for a longer duration. Further, the drink is said to enhance “mental focus” during the game. Further, the high content of caffeine reduces the “perception of effort” during the game thus, making the tiring activity less cumbersome.
The Test
Objective
To see the effect of the drink trained athletes during a 10 km treadmill time trial.
Hypothesis
The study takes the hypothesis that due to the presence of a high level of caffeine in Lucozade drink, it will substantially increase the performance of the athletes as opposed to a situation where the drink is not taken.
Subjects
10 male athletes with the high-performance record will be recruited for the experiment.
Experiment Procedure
Phase 1 of the experiment would involve standardization of the participant’s diets and exercise habits for a few days before and on the day of the test. Phase 2 would involve 10-trained athletes to run two 10 km time trial tests on a treadmill that was set a specific and constant gradient. Before the first test run, the athletes were not given any diet supplement, and their ability to complete the bout was determined. The time to complete the 10 km was a note for all 10 athletes. The second trial test was conducted after some time gap. Further, the athletes were given the drink 45 minutes before the test run was to take place, as is instructed in the usage direction of the product. The same treadmill test of 10 km is done on the same 10 athletes. The time taken to finish 10 km by the athletes is taken down. Apart from the time trial, from both the phases of the experiment physiological parameters of the participants like body temperature, cardiovascular and respiratory data were taken. The analysis was done based on the plasma glucose technique by taking the blood samples by pricking the figure of the participants. Statistical analysis is done using a one-tailed t-test to estimate the difference in the performance level due to the changes in the physiological and time parameter in the case of both the tests.
Reference
Lucozade Sports. Lucozade Sport Fuel & Focus. 2010. Web.