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Chocolate milk does an athlete's body good

Date published: 12/4/2005

NIVERSITY of Mary Washington freestyle sprinter Maureen Greenlee swims about 7,000 yards during two-hour workouts every day. Three mornings a week, she also lifts weights for an hour.

When Greenlee finishes working out, the 20-year-old hustles to the locker room and grabs some candy out of the team "candy locker" before heading to the showers.

Greenlee said she loves eating chocolate after practice.

"In the middle of your workout, you crave sugar," Greenlee said.

Candy, energy-boosting bars and sports drinks, such as Gatorade, are popular with athletes.

But Indiana University kinesiologist Joel Stager recommends something else to help athletes restore energy after long workouts: chocolate milk.

"I did a little background reading on recovery nutrition, and the data there suggested something like chocolate milk would be effective," Stager said.

Stager followed up with research and discovered that chocolate milk, with its high carbohydrate and protein content, restores weary muscles more effectively than some sports drinks. It's as effective as Gatorade, his study found.

Stager said that while milk may not sound appealing after exercise, most athletes who are seriously in training will do what it takes to be the best.

"It makes sense and I'd definitely try it," Greenlee said. "I would never drink it before [swimming]. That would be a recipe for disaster. But it's pretty yummy, and so I'd try it afterward."

For his research, Stager conducted an informal study with the high school swim team he coaches, and then followed up with athletes in the human performance lab at Indiana University. He said athletes need 1 gram of carbohydrate for every kilogram of body weight to recover after rigorous exercise.

The carbohydrates in chocolate milk easily meet this ratio to restore energy.

"It turns out you usually need to drink about 12 to 15 ounces of chocolate milk," Stager said.

The carbohydrates are the key ingredients for muscle recovery, but Stager said calcium and vitamin D are also important for athletes, and chocolate milk contains them, as well.

Chocolate is not the only flavor of milk that can be effective; what's important is that the carbohydrate content is similar. But Stager said the antioxidants in chocolate may influence muscle recovery, as well.

Date published: 12/4/2005