Tea and athletical training?

[Vielleicht]

An article about Mo Farah and his adoption to the Kenyan lifestyle a few days ago on front page:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... acing.html

I took naps in the afternoon. I drank water, which I never used to do: I used to drink tea. I would have six or seven cups a day, taken with three or four lumps of sugar. Water didn’t taste good to me. I was like, “Who drinks this stuff? Tea is way better”. On race days, I might have a few sips. That was my limit.

So it seems that tea is in his opinion counterproductive to his training. How so? Any scientific evidence so far to back it up?

[Bruce Kritzler]

Re: Tea and athletical training?

No, in fact Kenyans are noted for drinking massive quantities of tea, made with milk & sugar.

[Blues]

Re: Tea and athletical training?

That much tea may or may not have caused negative effects, but since it's possible that the amount of tea that Mo drank daily could contain a combined total of up to about 420mg of caffeine or more (strong black tea) and about 30 teaspoonsful of sugar, there could have been some negative effects on performance and health.

(A not-all-inclusive list includes the diuretic effect from caffeine including the loss of fluid and certain vitamins and minerals, cardiovascular effects from caffeine, possible sleep interference, caffeine withdrawal headaches, etc., as well as temporary low blood sugar levels due to rebound effect after insulin was released following each sugar ingestion, up to more than 500 empty calories a day from sucrose, etc..)