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Chocolate milk best post exercise, post workout drink: A study
– Reported, December 26, 2012
Physiologist Joel Stager, director of the Human Performance laboratory at Indiana University, has even one more potential workout recovery drink to add to the list: chocolate milk. His latest study, published in this month’s International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, names this kids’ favourite an optimal post-exercise recovery aid.
Before your stomach recoils, take a look at chocolate milk’s ingredient list. For a high-endurance athlete, Stager’s team sees it as a catch-all workout recovery drink. Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar — additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy.
Drinking plain water after exercise replaces sweat losses — and that’s it. “Chocolate milk provides carbohydrate replenishment to your muscles — something they can metabolize,” said Jason Karp, MS, another researcher for this study. “There’s nothing to metabolize in water.”
Stager’s assessment of chocolate milk is even simpler. “It’s water plus a whole lot more,” he said.
To get the best results from your training, ensure that your post-workout drink or meal is up to par. After your workout, your body is most receptive to using amino acids to repair muscle tissue, while using carbohydrates to restore muscle glycogen.
One of the best post-workout options is chocolate milk. Most prepared chocolate milk beverages are made with 1% or 2% milk, but you could also create your own fat-free chocolate milk by adding some chocolate syrup to regular skim milk. This will provide you with the benefits of carbohydrates, while giving you the optimal protein source found in milk.
Do make note, though, that different brands will vary in total calorie content, so even across the 1% varieties, the fat content may be the same, but total calorie content (typically ranging from 90 to 200 per 250 ml) will differ.
Heres why post-workout chocolate milk tops the list when it comes to fuelling yourself after a hard session at the gym.
Protein Content
Post-workout chocolate milk is beneficial because of its protein content. Every cup contains between 8 and 11 grams of protein, with the Clover and Bravo Foods brands containing the most. Ideally, youll want to consume between 15 and 25 grams of protein after a workout, which equates to 500 to 750 ml of chocolate milk.