Ability of organic guayusa extract to augment mood, desire to exercise, and exercise performance in young adult women
Creators: name: Helwig, Nathaniel
Publisher: name: University of Iowa
Year: 2023
Subjects: Guayusa
Mood
Training
public abstract

description: Short Title: AMA consumption influences the desire to train and exercise performance in young adult females.
description: 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 = &lt; 0.001) and TTC (F5, 157 = 26.48, p = &lt; 0.001) as well as a significant (p = &lt; 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 = &lt; 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 .