May 2006
Army Uses
Caffeinated Gum To Keep Sleep-Deprived
Soldiers Awake - Sandra
Basu
WASHINGTON-Researchers at the
Walter Reed Army Institute of
Research (WRAIR) in Silver Spring,
Md., are hoping that a newly
developed gum will help sleep
deprived soldiers stay awake
on the job. The gum, called Stay
Alert, contains caffeine to help
users stay awake.
"Caffeine, of course, is a
very well accepted agent used
by a large segment of the population
around the world and the abuse
potential is very low," said
Gary Kamimori, PhD, a research
physiologist at WRAIR and one
of the developers of the product. "Caffeine
is a very well accepted stimulant.
There has been research on it,
for 200-odd-some years."
Dr. Kamimori said that the
benefit of Stay Alert is that
it acts quickly. While he said
many caffeine products take about
20 to 30 minutes to have an effect
on their user, Stay Alert works
in three to five minutes. This,
he said, is advantageous for
military personnel who work long
hours and are fighting to stay
awake.
"In the military we have people
driving trucks all night long.
We tend to fight at night, we
operate 24 hours a day, seven
days a week. It's usually about
20 to 30 minutes in a sleep-deprived
person before you really see
the effects of caffeine. With
this formula, we see the effects
in three to five minutes. It's
really, really quick," he said.
Dr. Kamimori said that Stay
Alert was brought to the military
in 1999 by its inventor, Ron
Ream, who at the time was with
Amurol Confections Company, which
was a specialty gum subsidiary
of the Wrigley Company. After
hearing from him about the product,
the military became interested
in developing it as a way of
helping servicemembers stay awake.
"They [Amurol] had been test
marketing the product, and at
that point of time it was 50
milligrams of caffeine per gum.
The gum held the caffeine and
they were able to hide the bitterness
of caffeine, and it supposedly
delivered it faster," Dr. Kamimori
said.
"Their test marketing showed that their packaging wasn't flashy enough, the
name wasn't catchy enough, and the flavor was terrible. So they never actually
marketed the program at that point of time. Mr. Ream then met my commander,
came in and gave his talk on the product."
In the year 2000 WRAIR received
congressional money to do a study
on the gum, which was conducted
to validate what Ream had already
said about the product. Through
the study, WRAIR found that caffeine
in the chewing gum form was absorbed
by the body about four to five
times faster then caffeine taken
in any other form.
"Anything that goes into the
stomach takes a fair amount of
time to get into the body. In
the chewing gum form, the caffeine
is predominantly absorbed through
the lining of the mouth. Because
of that, it gets into the body,
four to five times faster and
is working faster. After we validated
that it does go to the body faster,
the [U.S. Army] Medical Research
and Materiel Command started
funding research for [the gum]
to deal with fatigue [in military
personnel]," Dr. Kamimori said.
Staying Awake
Dr. Kamimori said that when WRAIR
originally began improving
the gum, each piece contained
50 milligrams of caffeine.
WRAIR researchers then conducted
research to determine how much
caffeine and how often the
gum should be taken by a user.
WRAIR researchers found that
200 milligrams every two hours
was the best dosage during
a night without sleep.
"We found out if you gave 200
milligrams, every two hours during
the night without sleep, that
you could maintain alertness
at 100 per cent on a relatively
boring task. We looked at different
doses of caffeine, [and] 200
milligrams was the most effective," he
said.
In another study, Dr. Kamimori
said that they wanted to determine
what dosage of caffeine in the
gum was most effective among
individuals who generally have
a high intake of caffeine.
"Commanders sometimes don't
sleep much and they are drinking
10 [to] 15 cups of coffee a night.
Our study looked at high habitual
use versus low use. We took a
bunch of military soldiers that
tended to use a lot of caffeine
and we took a bunch of soldiers
who used almost no caffeine and
we did the same study looking
at some higher doses [of caffeine
in the gum] and some lower doses.
We found that it really didn't
make much difference during one
night without sleep. Two hundred
milligrams [of caffeine in the
gum] was still the best dose.
When we gave 300 milligrams,
we actually started seeing some
negative side effects. We had
someone get kind of hyperactive.
We had one person get severe
nausea, stomach upset, so 200
milligrams is the best dose for
the average person, whether they
be a high or low user," he said.
Gum
The gum, which is in pellet form,
has been available for troops
since last month and contains
100 milligrams of caffeine
in each piece. Users are recommended
to take one piece of the gum,
chew it for five minutes and
if they are not alert, chew
a second piece.
"The product has been available
since April of this year. We
know that orders have been placed
for units in Iraq and Afghanistan
and training units here in the
States," Dr. Kamimori said.
Dr. Kamimori said that obtaining
caffeine through gum has several
advantages over coffee for a
servicemember, including its
quick impact and convenience.
"Most people take more caffeine
than they need. That's because
it takes so long to work. When
you wake up and have your first
cup of coffee, it doesn't start
working for 20 minutes. That's
the thing with the gum...if you
are tired and driving down the
road and get the head bob, you
pop a piece or two pieces and
boom, two minutes later you are
good to go," he said.
Dr. Kamimori also said that
gum does not have the acids associated
with coffee that can cause an
upset stomach. In addition, he
noted that because gum is not
a fluid like coffee, it will
not cause the user to have to
urinate.
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