Stephanie Reuter and her colleagues at the University of South Australia examined the effect of high-dose, short-term use of caffeine, linking its use to osteoporosis.
Published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the study involved the participants chewing either caffeine or a placebo gum for a span of five minutes at two-hour intervals over a total six-hour treatment period.
“Caffeine increased renal calcium clearance by 77%. Furthermore, the effect was positively correlated with sodium clearance and urine volume, suggesting that caffeine may act through inhibition of sodium reabsorption in the proximal convoluted tubule,” the study found.
“This study confirmed that caffeine does increase renal calcium clearance and fosters further investigation into safe consumption of caffeine,” researchers also found.
The study is among the first to examine the effects of high-dose, short-term caffeine consumption and renal regulation of calcium in the body.
“This is the first study to report the impact of high-dose, short-term caffeine intake on renal clearance of calcium, sodium, and creatinine in healthy adults,” the authors of the study stated in a news release.