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Review
. 2024 Oct 30;16(21):3692.
doi: 10.3390/nu16213692.

The Effects of Caffeine on Exercise in Hot Environments: A Bibliometric Study

Hansen Li  1 , Ying Yang  1 , Qian Liu  1 , Liming Liu  1 , Guodong Zhang  2 , Xing Zhang  3 , Mingyue Yin  4 , Yang Cao  5   6
Affiliations
Review

The Effects of Caffeine on Exercise in Hot Environments: A Bibliometric Study

Hansen Li et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: Caffeine is widely recognized as an ergogenic aid to enhance athletic performance, yet its effects in hot environments remain relatively underexplored.

Aims: To provide a comprehensive overview of the research landscape and identify research themes in this field.

Methods: We systematically searched the Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS databases using keywords related to caffeine (e.g., caffe*), hot environments (e.g., heat, hot, or therm*), and athletic performance (e.g., cardio, endurance, or strength). The Bibliometrix package in R was used for bibliometric analysis and result visualization, while a narrative review was subsequently performed to identify research themes.

Results: We found that studies examining the impact of caffeine on exercise in hot conditions are relatively sparse and have progressed slowly in recent years. Research in this domain has predominantly been concentrated within an academic network led by Professor Lawrence Armstrong. Recent contributions have been sporadically made by emerging scholars, with collaborations largely confined to a few research groups and countries. Key research themes identified include exercise performance, thermoregulation, fluid balance, physiological responses, immune responses, synergistic effects with other compounds, and the influence of individual differences. Of these, the first three themes-exercise performance, thermoregulation, and fluid balance-have received the most attention.

Conclusions: Caffeine's effects on exercise performance in hot environments have not been thoroughly studied. The existing research themes are varied, and the conclusions show considerable inconsistencies. Our study highlights the need for further research into the effects of caffeine dosage, administration methods, and population-specific variables. We also call for increased collaboration among research groups to advance scientific understanding and address the gaps in this field.

Keywords: athlete; coffee; competition; exercise; health; nutrients; physical activity; sport.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual trends in publication and citation counts.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Yearly publication trends of major journal.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Main authors and their active periods. Note: the size of the circles represents the number of publications, with larger circles indicating a higher volume of work; the brown horizontal lines denote the time periods during which each author was actively publishing.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Collaboration network among 30 main authors. Note: different colors represent distinct collaboration networks; thicker lines indicate higher frequencies of co-authorship in publications.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Publication Counts and Collaboration Patterns by Country/Region. Note: darker blue shades represent higher publication volumes; brown lines indicate collaboration, with thicker lines denoting higher frequencies of collaborative efforts.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Word cloud based on authors’ keywords.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Topic trends based on titles. Note: the size of the circles represents the number of publications, with larger circles indicating a higher volume of work; blue horizontal lines denote the time span during which each theme has been prominent.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Theme map based on abstracts.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Topics of the included studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.