Short Title: AMA consumption influences the desire to train and exercise performance in young adult females.
The United States energy drink market has grown exponentially since its debut in 1997 and is projected to double, increasing from $7.8 billion to $15.7 billion in the coming years. Ilex guayusa is a caffeinated holly species brewed similarly to Camellia Sinensis used to make green or black tea and contains a unique makeup of caffeine and antioxidants. Recently, companies have worked to demonstrate unique functionalities of Ilex guayusa in the form of organic guayusa extract (OGE), as a result, this ingredient has flooded the nootropic premium energy market. PURPOSE: The purposes of this project were to first determine the dosing efficacy of a form of OGE, AmaTeaMAX (AMA) on mood (Study 1), and then to investigate AMA’s effect on the desire to train and exercise performance during a high intensity training program and subsequently on body composition changes (Study 2). METHODS: In Study 1, sixteen healthy, physically active, young adult females (mean±SD, age = 28±7) completed experimental visits in randomized order, during which they either consumed a moderate dose of AMA (AMA600), high dose of AMA (AMA1200), or a PLA. Following an hour-long rest and cognitive testing, participants took a 35-question survey (POMS-SF) created to assess mood states. In Study 2, thirty-three, physically active, young adult females (mean±SD, age = 24±7) completed two experimental visits and six weeks of chronic AMA600 supplementation alongside exercise training that consisted of two full body resistance training (FBRT) sessions and one metabolic conditioning (METCON) session. Desire to train was measured upon arrival to exercise training sessions using a 41-item exercise readiness scale and visual analog scales designed to address their desire to exercise right now and to invest physical and mental energy. Exercise performance during exercise training sessions was measured as the total volume during the FBRT sessions and time to completion (TTC) during the METCON session and as well as their last set of FBRT where they performed as many reps as possible (AMRAP). Lastly, body composition was represented as the percent change in body fat (BF) from pre to post testing, measured using bioelectrical impedance. Statistical analyses included two-way (condition × time) ANOVAs or mixed-effects models to examine the effect of AMA on mood and the desire to train. Post-hoc one-way ANOVAs and pairwise comparisons were used to decompose interactions and main effects. For body composition analysis, ANCOVA models with baseline values as the covariate were utilized to maximize statistical power. RESULTS: In Study 1, acute consumption improved Total Mood Disturbance (TMD) in AMA600 when compared to PLA (p = 0.023), whereas AMA1200 did not (p = 0.698). Acute OGE consumption only positively affected Fatigue-Inertia in the AMA600 condition when compared to PLA (p = 0.005). In Study 2, a medium effect size was found (d = 0.65) in total volume lifted in AMA600 versus PLA, but this effect was not statistically significant (p = 0.061). There was a significant time effect for total volume (F11, 343 = 52.78, p = < 0.001) and TTC (F5, 157 = 26.48, p = < 0.001) as well as a significant (p = < 0.001) time effect in the third set (AMRAP), with trends in group differences (p = 0.055, d = 0.66). There was an interaction between time and group in the desire to exercise right now (p = 0.024). Interestingly, AMA600 had no change in desire to exercise right now throughout the study (F17, 272 = 15.51, p = 0.139), whereas PLA (F17, 260 = 1.805, p = 0.028) decreased their desire to exercise right now from week 1 through week 4 (all p ≤ 0.029), oscillating the last two weeks. The desire to invest mental energy (F17, 532 = 2.23, p = 0.003) significantly decreased over the study, while the desire to invest physical energy tended to be higher in the AMA600 group when compared to PLA (p = 0.071). An independent-samples t-test was used to probe this potential group difference, which indicated similar findings (36.3 ± 7.24 vs. 31.5 ± 8.43, p = < 0.069, d = 0.611). Our study found a significant interaction effect between time and group in relation to exercise readiness (F17, 528 = 1.759, p = 0.030). Further analysis revealed that exercise readiness did not significantly change across time for either AMA600 (p = 0.055) or PLA (p = 0.081) groups, however, exercise readiness was significantly different between AMA600 and PLA on week 2 day 2 (p = 0.043). Finally, there was no significant difference in body composition (F1, 30 = 0.535, p = 0.535, partial n2 = 0.040) or FM (F1, 30 = 0.365, p = 0.550, partial n2 = 0.012). Though, changes in FFM tended to be higher in AMA600 compared to PLA (F1, 30 = 3.203, p = 0.084, partial n2 = 0.096). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, our data indicates that acute AMA600 supplementation is independently associated with improved mood and desire to train and tends to increase total volume lifted as well as AMRAP performance when compared to placebo with no effects on body composition .
Guayusa Mood Training
Details
Title: Subtitle
Ability of organic guayusa extract to augment mood, desire to exercise, and exercise performance in young adult women
Creators
Nathaniel Helwig
Contributors
Nathaniel D M Jenkins (Advisor)
Lucas Carr (Committee Member)
Melissa Bates (Committee Member)
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS), University of Iowa
Degree in
Health and Human Physiology
Date degree season
Spring 2023
DOI
10.25820/etd.007246
Publisher
University of Iowa
Number of pages
ix, 46 pages
Copyright
Copyright 2024 Nathaniel Helwig
Language
English
Date submitted
04/25/2023
Date approved
05/01/2023
Description illustrations
color illustrations
Description bibliographic
Includes bibliographical references (pages 39-44).
Public Abstract (ETD)
The United States energy drink market has grown exponentially since its debut in 1997 and is projected to double, increasing from $7.8 billion to $15.7 billion in the coming years. Recently, companies have worked to develop new “organic" tea-based products, such as organic guayusa extract (OGE), or in this case, AmaTea MAX (AMA), and market them as nootropics. As nootropics are proposed to improve mood, function, and performance, the purpose of the first study is to test various doses of AMA on mood, then, take the most efficacious dose and investigate its role in the desire to train, a function of mood, and determine its role in improving exercise performance throughout a six-week high intensity training program. Likewise, as exercise is known to promote shifts in body composition, we aim to measure the direct and indirect impacts of supplementation on body composition. We found that AMA600 supplementation improved mood and supported a higher desire to train and tended to influence performance in resistance exercise when compared to those who weren’t supplementing. Furthermore, we found no effect of supplementation on body composition. These findings are significant as we can begin to understand the benefits of consuming AMA600, especially its potential ability to improve the desire to train and exercise performance. However, more studies are needed to fully understand AMA’s ability to influence mood, the desire to train and exercise performance, and how that may impact body composition.
Academic Unit
Center for Social Science Innovation; Health, Sport, and Human Physiology