Research shows that caffeine boosts athletic performance, and according to Prof. Lawrence Spriet, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences (HHNS), it can be an enhancer with low potential for side effects. Spriet commented on the use of 
caffeine as a performance enhancer for elite athletes in a Wall Street Journal story. Spriet, HHNS chair, co-authored Caffeine for Sports Performance in 2013, and said the book on the widely used stimulant will need updating based on recent research. He studies how skeletal muscle generates the large amount of energy needed to exercise and compete in work and sports.