Caffeine Warning, Dangerous info in a mag!

[zacklaws]

I finally got round to reading the latest copy of "Health and Fitness" for cyclists. Autumn 2009 copy, and as I take caffeine when riding I was interested to read the article on caffeine whereby it states that:-

"3 grams of caffeine per kilo of body weight has been shown to improve endurance cycling performance when taken one hour prior to exercise"

Unless I am missing something, that would be a lethal dosage, the maximum a day that should be taken is 600 miligrammes according to what's wrote on my bags of caffeine. If I was to follow the guideline mentioned in the magazine that would be almost 300 grammes that I would have to take, 2 grams is enough to hospitalise you with serious symptoms of overdose.

I have a feeling the article should state milligrams and not grams. I have a sent an email to "Cycling weekly" who publishes the magazine.

 

[dodgy]

Ouch, sloppy that.

 

[andrew-the-tortoise]

Has got to be mg, grammes would be lethal I am sure.

80mg in a can of red bull, I weigh 80Kg approx - which would give me 1mg/Kg body weight, so would need three cans to achieve this, which still would be too much for me: would be a gibbering wreck!

Will stick to a nice cup of tea.

 

[Ben M]

large doses of caffeine make me need to pee allllll the time, so this is out for me, 210g before a ride would have me off the bike more than on it!

 

[Fiona N]

It's hard to imagine how you could ingest 210g anyway - as far as I understand caffeine is unpleasantly bitter in concentrated form, as indeed are many natural substances with pschyo-active effects. Apparently nutmeg has a hallucinogenic component but to get any effect you need to ingest about 5g of grated nutmeg. I have it on good authority that this is a quantity which acts as a very effective emetic.

 

[Bill Gates]

http://www.proplus.co.uk/tiredness.htm

These tablets (50mg) contain caffeine and can be bought off the shelf in supermarkets or Boots. 2 tablets is the same as 1 x cup of strong coffee. No taste as in tablet form. Useful if you want a caffeine boost before a race.

 

[jay clock]

If each tablet of Pro Plus has 50mg, then the recommended dose according the mag would be 60 tablets per 1kg of body weight. I weigh 87kg, so I need to consume 5220 tablets. If we assume they weigh 2 grammes each, that is over 10kg of tablets, which I am sure will slow me down. Oh, and being dead won't help either!

 

[Archie_tect]

Try

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTC2Ihnsrf0

 

[Bill Gates]

If each tablet of Pro Plus has 50mg, then the recommended dose according the mag would be 60 tablets per 1kg of body weight. I weigh 87kg, so I need to consume 5220 tablets. If we assume they weigh 2 grammes each, that is over 10kg of tablets, which I am sure will slow me down. Oh, and being dead won't help either!

 

[Jonathan M]

"3 grams of caffeine per kilo of body weight has been shown to improve endurance cycling performance when taken one hour prior to exercise"

Utter bolloxs. Probably written by someone who does not understand the significance & harm of these words, what was the editorial team doing letting this go through?

 

[Bristol Dave]

This is indeed dangerous writing. 300 milligrams for caffeine can be an overdose depending on various physiological parameters in the individual.

I would guess it is a printing error.

BD

 

[Bill Gates]

This is indeed dangerous writing. 300 milligrams for caffeine can be an overdose depending on various physiological parameters in the individual.

I would guess it is a printing error.

BD

Don't you mean 3000mg.

1 gram = 1000mg

 

[zacklaws]

Well I finally got a reply from cycling weekly, looks like they have not got my message, so I have sent it again:-

>>>Hi. This is the qmail-send program at mail.ipcmedia.com.
I'm afraid I wasn't able to deliver your message to the following addresses.
This is a permanent error; I've given up. Sorry it didn't work out.

<info@cyclingweekly.co.uk>:
Sorry, I wasn't able to establish an SMTP connection. (#4.4.1) I'm not going to try again; this message has been in the queue too long.<<<

 

[Davidc]

Take that and you won't need a bike - you'll get where you're going by bouncing of walls!!!!!!!

 

[Bristol Dave]

Don't you mean 3000mg.

1 gram = 1000mg

I mean three hundred milligrams in total. This can be enough to bring on "coffee jitters" and lead to insomnia etc.

The lethal dose is approximately 150 - 200 mg per kilogram of body weight, which can bring on a heart attack.

BD