Delayed release caffeine: the science behind making your caffeine buzz last longer

It’s 3:00 pm and you’re exhausted. You woke up exhausted, but you had coffee for breakfast, and now you’re exhausted again. You are now thinking that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to stay up ‘til 1 am watching Olympic snowboarding after all. Or maybe you’ve recently discovered you do your best thesis writing at 10:00 pm when you finally have time to sit down and relax. Whatever the reason, we all have all those days where the struggle is real to stay awake and remain focused.

Food Science Meets Pharma

Time-release technology may be a new concept in the world of food science but it’s definitely not a new trick in the world of pharmaceuticals. ZumXR holds eight different patents for time-release delivery systems and explains a bit of the magic behind the science [8]. In this delivery system, nutrients are encapsulated in micro-beads, and these micro-beads are designed to release the nutrients within gradually in response to the changing pH conditions in the small intestine.

For caffeinated beverages, the caffeine is coated using GRAS (generally recognized as safe) ingredients to create a shell that doesn’t start releasing caffeine until it reaches the upper GI tract (the path from the mouth to major papilla in the duodenum) [9]. While encountering different acidity levels in the stomach (~ pH 2.5) and the upper GI tract (~ pH 6.8), the various pH environments act like a trigger to initiate the dissolution of the shell which releases the caffeine. The caffeine is then absorbed progressively by the body over a 4-6 hour period. Since caffeine’s half-life is ~ 4-6 hours, this means you’re getting a new troop of caffeine fatigue busters right when the first troop has finished their shift.

Great! A continuous release of caffeine, but what’s the catch?

There are significant benefits to this time-release caffeine strategy. The EFSA says healthy adults should only have up to 200 mg caffeine at a time and 400 mg caffeine per day [10]. Instead of ignoring that 200 mg caffeine limit, food scientists can create products with 200 – 400 mg of caffeine which is released a little bit at a time. Sustained-release or timed-release caffeine can be used to avoid jitteriness and the “caffeine crash”, as well as mask the characteristic bitter and undesirable taste of caffeine [11].

Now, there are some cons to this approach as well.  The catch with these time-release caffeine products is that it requires a bit more caution on the consumer side. If you don’t want to buy 3 coffees strategically throughout the day, a time-release caffeine beverage like AvitaeXR could be a great morning companion. It would not be a good idea, however, to consume one of these time-release caffeinated drinks when your day is already half-over. The second wave of caffeine will probably hit you right when you’re ready to call it a night and you can kiss your good night’s sleep goodbye.

The other catch with this technology is you have to beware of imposters. That moment you realize you’ve had a little too much caffeine it’s too late to do anything about it. If you drink a product thinking it will give you 400 mg caffeine over 12 hours and instead the caffeine hits you all at once, you could be in serious trouble. The best way to make sure you’re getting “the real deal” is to look for clinical studies showing how the coated ingredients in the product actually release over time.

Conclusion

Sustained-release caffeine is a great idea for caffeine addicts everywhere, and a great example of how collaboration across different sciences can address some of the daily struggles we face.