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- Joined
- May 18, 2003
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Hey you all...it seems plain old chocolate milk performs just as well as Gatorade and the rest when it comes to recovery after training. Now Gatorade is UPSET !
Drink of champions
Chocolate milk may do a body better than a sports drink when it comes
to replenishing energy, a study finds. In the spirit of competition,
the results are being challenged.
By Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
March 13, 2006
ONE little milk study and everyone's having a cow.
For decades, biochemists and physiologists in the dog-eat-dog world of
sports drink technology have struggled to find the perfect elixir —
the right balance of carbohydrates, electrolytes, protein and fluid to
keep athletes in peak form after various types of exercise.
So it was big news when exercise kinesiology professor Joel Stager and
co-workers at Indiana University in Bloomington declared they had
stumbled upon the perfect drink for elite cyclists recovering their
energy after strenuous exercise.
That beverage was chocolate milk.
In three trials administered at one-week intervals, nine male cyclists
performed a strenuous workout then drank one of three drinks. One
group got standard 2% chocolate milk, another drank fluid- and
electrolyte-replenishing Gatorade and a third group Endurox R4, a
specially formulated beverage with a "patented 4 to 1 ratio of
carbohydrates to protein" and other ingredients aimed at replenishing
muscle glycogen stores and helping rebuild muscle.
Then, after a rest period, the cyclists exercised again, this time to
exhaustion.
The study, published in the February issue of the International
Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, and funded in
part by the dairy industry, reported that cyclists who drank chocolate
milk at the break were able to continue cycling about 50% longer than
those who drank Endurox R4 and about equally as long as those who
drank Gatorade.
The dairy industry swiftly embraced the study. A group affiliated with
the nation's milk processors, the Milk Processor Education Program, or
MilkPEP, issued a statement suggesting that chocolate milk had
outperformed Gatorade.
Gatorade, for its part, immediately issued a spirited rebuttal of the
conclusions arrived at by MilkPEP.
And Robert Portman, chief executive of PacificHealth Laboratories
Inc., which manufactures Endurox R4, groused, when telephoned, of the
milk industry funding: "That's like a cigarette manufacturer
concluding that smoking is good for you."
Some sports nutritionists weren't surprised by the results. "I've been
touting chocolate milk for years," says Felice Kurtzman, sports
nutritionist for UCLA's athletic department.
"Chocolate milk provides carbohydrates, calcium, other trace
minerals," she says. "And the important thing is that the kids drink
it. I can tell you from our training table that football drinks it,
swimming drinks it, track drinks it."
At issue is which drink best supplies the body's needs to reinvigorate
and repair itself following strenuous exercise.
Carbohydrates are the most important factor in the short-term for
replenishing the energy after vigorous exercise, sports nutritionists
say.
"The body needs carbohydrates to refuel the muscles," says Nancy
Clark, a Boston-based sports nutritionist in private practice and
author of "Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook."
But protein is also important for recovery, Clark says. It provides
amino acids for the building and repair of muscle tissues.
More immediately, she adds, a little protein might give an athlete a
performance edge by enhancing insulin release, which aids in the
transport of carbohydrates to the muscles.
Several sports nutritionists say the study has a few limitations,
including its small size.
They also express surprise that chocolate milk outperformed Endurox R4
because both contain large amounts of carbohydrates. Some said they
were surprised that Gatorade did as well as it did, as it is not
designed to be a recovery drink.
Still, Clark says she's happy to see chocolate milk get its due.
Athletes used to thrive on real food, but now they're relying on
supplements.
"I like that it brings people back to real food," she says. "Sometimes
they forget that food works."
The fact that a study on milk was supported by the dairy industry
isn't unusual in the field of nutrition science, in which research
dollars are scarce. But the study struck a sour note with sports
drinks producers, who take energy drinks very seriously.
Portman, of PacificHealth Laboratories, said at least part of the
results contradict the large body of research highlighting the
importance of carbohydrates. Based on that criterion, chocolate milk
should have been running laps around Gatorade, which has about half as
many carbohydrates as the chocolate milk. And milk should have
performed about as well as Endurox R4, which has components similar to
milk.
Bob Murray, director of Gatorade Sports Science Institute and an
exercise physiologist, objects to the inclusion of Gatorade.
"It's a matter of what the beverages were designed for," he says. "I
wouldn't put Gatorade on my cereal."
Stager says he wasn't surprised at the performance of chocolate milk.
He said he first noted the effectiveness of the drink years ago as a
high school athletics coach in Bloomington.
He'd noticed that some of the kids would skip lunch, which impaired
their performance. One day, he introduced chocolate milk into the
training regimen — and with each glass of milk, which the kids happily
lapped up, their performance improved.
"There's a truism in the world of sports science," he says, "that many
times sports researchers identify things that the athletes already
know."
Drink of champions
Chocolate milk may do a body better than a sports drink when it comes
to replenishing energy, a study finds. In the spirit of competition,
the results are being challenged.
By Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
March 13, 2006
ONE little milk study and everyone's having a cow.
For decades, biochemists and physiologists in the dog-eat-dog world of
sports drink technology have struggled to find the perfect elixir —
the right balance of carbohydrates, electrolytes, protein and fluid to
keep athletes in peak form after various types of exercise.
So it was big news when exercise kinesiology professor Joel Stager and
co-workers at Indiana University in Bloomington declared they had
stumbled upon the perfect drink for elite cyclists recovering their
energy after strenuous exercise.
That beverage was chocolate milk.
In three trials administered at one-week intervals, nine male cyclists
performed a strenuous workout then drank one of three drinks. One
group got standard 2% chocolate milk, another drank fluid- and
electrolyte-replenishing Gatorade and a third group Endurox R4, a
specially formulated beverage with a "patented 4 to 1 ratio of
carbohydrates to protein" and other ingredients aimed at replenishing
muscle glycogen stores and helping rebuild muscle.
Then, after a rest period, the cyclists exercised again, this time to
exhaustion.
The study, published in the February issue of the International
Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, and funded in
part by the dairy industry, reported that cyclists who drank chocolate
milk at the break were able to continue cycling about 50% longer than
those who drank Endurox R4 and about equally as long as those who
drank Gatorade.
The dairy industry swiftly embraced the study. A group affiliated with
the nation's milk processors, the Milk Processor Education Program, or
MilkPEP, issued a statement suggesting that chocolate milk had
outperformed Gatorade.
Gatorade, for its part, immediately issued a spirited rebuttal of the
conclusions arrived at by MilkPEP.
And Robert Portman, chief executive of PacificHealth Laboratories
Inc., which manufactures Endurox R4, groused, when telephoned, of the
milk industry funding: "That's like a cigarette manufacturer
concluding that smoking is good for you."
Some sports nutritionists weren't surprised by the results. "I've been
touting chocolate milk for years," says Felice Kurtzman, sports
nutritionist for UCLA's athletic department.
"Chocolate milk provides carbohydrates, calcium, other trace
minerals," she says. "And the important thing is that the kids drink
it. I can tell you from our training table that football drinks it,
swimming drinks it, track drinks it."
At issue is which drink best supplies the body's needs to reinvigorate
and repair itself following strenuous exercise.
Carbohydrates are the most important factor in the short-term for
replenishing the energy after vigorous exercise, sports nutritionists
say.
"The body needs carbohydrates to refuel the muscles," says Nancy
Clark, a Boston-based sports nutritionist in private practice and
author of "Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook."
But protein is also important for recovery, Clark says. It provides
amino acids for the building and repair of muscle tissues.
More immediately, she adds, a little protein might give an athlete a
performance edge by enhancing insulin release, which aids in the
transport of carbohydrates to the muscles.
Several sports nutritionists say the study has a few limitations,
including its small size.
They also express surprise that chocolate milk outperformed Endurox R4
because both contain large amounts of carbohydrates. Some said they
were surprised that Gatorade did as well as it did, as it is not
designed to be a recovery drink.
Still, Clark says she's happy to see chocolate milk get its due.
Athletes used to thrive on real food, but now they're relying on
supplements.
"I like that it brings people back to real food," she says. "Sometimes
they forget that food works."
The fact that a study on milk was supported by the dairy industry
isn't unusual in the field of nutrition science, in which research
dollars are scarce. But the study struck a sour note with sports
drinks producers, who take energy drinks very seriously.
Portman, of PacificHealth Laboratories, said at least part of the
results contradict the large body of research highlighting the
importance of carbohydrates. Based on that criterion, chocolate milk
should have been running laps around Gatorade, which has about half as
many carbohydrates as the chocolate milk. And milk should have
performed about as well as Endurox R4, which has components similar to
milk.
Bob Murray, director of Gatorade Sports Science Institute and an
exercise physiologist, objects to the inclusion of Gatorade.
"It's a matter of what the beverages were designed for," he says. "I
wouldn't put Gatorade on my cereal."
Stager says he wasn't surprised at the performance of chocolate milk.
He said he first noted the effectiveness of the drink years ago as a
high school athletics coach in Bloomington.
He'd noticed that some of the kids would skip lunch, which impaired
their performance. One day, he introduced chocolate milk into the
training regimen — and with each glass of milk, which the kids happily
lapped up, their performance improved.
"There's a truism in the world of sports science," he says, "that many
times sports researchers identify things that the athletes already
know."
IMO choc milk is the drink of champs 
