Chocolate Milk -The Ultimate Sports Drink?
Dairy Aids Athletes in Recovery, Muscle Building and Hydration
Jun 5, 2009
Gatorade, moo-ve over. Chocolate milk is the latest sports drink lapping up attention in the fitness world. It might seem unusual that the creamy beverage of our childhood would benefit athletes, but several recent studies have found drinking milk after exercise to have positive effects on recovery, muscle building, and hydration.
Milk and Recovery
Drink milk, pedal longer. That’s what two separate studies found, when testing the effects of chocolate milk, Gatorade and Endurox R4, a carbohydrate-replacement drink, on endurance cyclists. Both studies followed the same procedure. On three separate days, nine male cyclists did an energy-depleting exercise session. After each session, they drank one of the three test drinks halfway through a four-hour recovery period. They then cycled in an endurance trial.
In the most recent study, eight of the nine subjects cycled for longer in the endurance trial after drinking chocolate milk than after drinking the other two drinks. The study, which was funded by Runner’s World and Masterfoods, was published in February 2009 in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.
Researchers at Indiana University conducted the same study in 2006. Subjects cycled 49 percent and 54 percent longer after drinking chocolate milk and Gatorade, respectively, than after drinking Endurox.
A 2009 study from James Madison University found that chocolate milk provided equal or better muscle recovery in soccer players, compared to a high-carbohydrate recovery beverage. The 13 male college soccer players in the study were given either lowfat chocolate milk or a high-carbohydrate recovery beverage daily during four days of intense training. After a two-week break, the athletes went through a second round of intense training and switched beverages. Chocolate milk drinkers were found to have significantly lower levels of creatine kinase – an indicator of muscle damage – compared to when they drank the carbohydrate beverage.
Milk and Muscle Building
It appears Popeye could have been drinking milk all these years. A 2007 study found that subjects who drank milk after weightlifting built more muscle and lost more body fat than those who drank soy protein or a carbohydrate drink.
Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada recruited 56 healthy young men to weight-train one hour per day, five days a week for 12 weeks. The men were split into three groups: nonfat milk, soy milk and carbohydrate drink. They drank two cups of their assigned beverage immediately after exercise and an hour later.
The milk drinkers got the best results, gaining 8.8 pounds of muscle, versus 6 pounds for the soy milk and 5.3 pounds for the carbohydrate drink. They also lost the most body fat: 2 pounds, compared to 0 pounds for the soy-milk drinkers and 1 pound for those in the carbohydrate-drink group. The study was funded by the National Dairy Council and published in August 2007 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Milk and Hydration
It might not quench your thirst like water does, but milk appears to keep you hydrated longer. A study published in 2007 in the British Journal of Nutrition showed that 2 percent milk helped rehydrate and replenish exercisers better than water or Powerade.
On three separate days, 11 healthy volunteers worked out long enough to sweat 1.8 percent of body weight. Afterwards, each day they drank 150% of their sweat loss in water, milk or Powerade. Exercisers who drank water or sports drinks excreted more urine and minerals in the one to two hours after the workout than those who drank milk.
Why Milk
Experts suspect one reason for chocolate milk’s effectiveness in helping athletes recover is its carbohydrate to protein ratio, approximately 4:1. “What it provides is carbs, as well as calcium and just enough protein,” says Dina Aburmishan, a registered dietician who works with triathletes in the Chicago area. “The combination of carbs and protein promotes muscle glycogen synthesis.”
Does it have to be chocolate? “Chocolate milk has a little higher carb content. Also, most people like chocolate milk, so they’ll actually drink it,” Aburmishan says.
Researchers also speculate that the specific types of proteins in milk give it an advantage over other protein sources in rebuilding muscle tissue. Caseins, which make up 80 percent of the protein in milk, provide a slow release of amino acids into the blood stream, making them efficient in nutrient supply. Whey protein is fast acting, allowing amino acids to immediately get into muscle tissue.
As for hydration, it’s tough to question milk’s superiority. When the body sweats, essential electrolytes such as sodium, calcium and potassium are lost. Milk is a natural source of electrolytes, containing more of each of these minerals than many sports drinks. An eight-ounce serving of skim milk contains approximately 130 mg of sodium, 407 mg of potassium, 301 mg of calcium and 27 mg of magnesium. Eight ounces of Powerade contains 55 mg of sodium, 30 mg of potassium, 2.5 mg of calcium and 1.2 mg of magnesium.
Is it necessary to drink milk to get all these benefits? Some sports recovery drinks claim to do the job, but so far, milk has risen above the crowd.
“What’s great about milk is that it’s liquid and it’s real food. Sports drinks are like putting a vitamin pill in water,” Aburmishan says. “We don’t always know why, but there are things in real food that just make it more effective.”
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