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Sunday, June 1, 2008
What You May Not Know About Chocolate Milk
Greater Louisville, KY
By: Walt Dries
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Photo(s) By: Kyle Danztler/MyActionPortraits.com
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Brown cow juice is a great source of protein and carbohydrates—ideal for post-workout refueling.
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“Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a higher intensity during subsequent workouts.”
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High school athletes work very hard at their sports. They do workouts of varying duration and intensity to build the skills and endurance necessary to compete throughout their athletic season. What a lot of high school athletes don’t realize is that to reap the maximum benefit from their hard work, athletes must pay as much attention to their nutrition as they do to their active exercise, specifically what they consume during the first hour after exercise, when the body is beginning its “recovery” phase.
Endurance coach Tim Mickleborough recently wrote, “Recovery from exercise is a complex process requiring the replenishment of the body’s fuel stores, the repair of damaged muscle tissue and the initiations of training adaptations.” In short, the body shifts gears from energy producing mode to a rebuilding mode.
A study conducted at Indiana University, Bloomington by Mickleborough and others and published in the February 2006 issue of International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, confirms this assertion and goes on to say that refueling your body immediately after your training session is as important as anything you did in the actual workout. The study says that glycogen is the primary fuel source used by the muscles during prolonged, strenuous exercise and ingesting protein along with a carbohydrate (at a carbohydrate-protein ratio of approximately 2.5:1) within 30 minutes to one hour after exercise has been shown to hasten the rate of glycogen synthesis in the muscles and improve endurance performance. The study compared the performance of endurance athletes who drank various fluids between prolonged workouts. The athletes who drank the chocolate milk performed significantly better on several measures than those who drank simple fluids or carbohydrate replacement drinks.
Study coauthor Joel M. Stager, PhD said in a news release, “Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate-to-protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a higher intensity during subsequent workouts.”
To meet the current recommendations for post-exercise carbohydrate-protein intake, a 160-pound male athlete, for example, would need to consume between 17 and 27 ounces of low fat chocolate milk. A 130-pound female athlete would need to consume between 14 and 23 ounces, depending on the brand.
Work hard, but work smart too. Give your body the tools it needs to recover most effectively from your hard workouts. Drink some chocolate milk after practice--it’s quick, easy, effective and delicious!
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