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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.
Stager said he has received many e-mails from athletes who discovered the benefits of chocolate milk years ago. But he said most people are shocked by his research, which was publicized earlier this year.
"The vast majority of people are just absolutely clueless about nutrition in general," Stager said. "Diets are often woefully lacking for people training that hard."
Jim Thull, president of the Fredericksburg Area Running Club, said he was not aware of Stager's study. But he said he probably would drink chocolate milk after his runs, "mostly because I like it."
Even some members of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners have jumped on board the chocolate milk train, drinking milk after games, according to published reports.
However, Debi Bernardes, a director of FARC, isn't buying it--literally.
"The reason why they are touting chocolate milk is because it is relatively inexpensive," Bernardes said. "Milk has protein. Protein is very good for the body immediately after endurance sessions. The body is primed and ready to absorb it, and it aids in recovery from the stress of exercise."
But she said milk also has a big downside.
"[It] doesn't have any vitamin C or vitamin E in it, which are major antioxidants," she said. "If you buy it in the store, it generally has way too much sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, and generally has more fat calories than needed."
Bernardes also noted another disadvantage: Many people are lactose intolerant. She stressed other recovery drinks over chocolate milk, specifically shakes that include whey or soy protein, some fruit and wheat germ.
While someone as active as Bernardes may be able to stomach wheat germ, kids probably would prefer the chocolate milk.
But unlike hard-core athletes, kids running around on playgrounds are not in need of lots of carbohydrates.
Stager said while chocolate milk may provide some benefits for children, his work focused strictly on athletes engaged in rigorous training, like Greenlee.
"Kids used to be fairly well-trained, but of course we're all led to question that assumption today with the increase in [childhood] obesity," he said. "This recommendation is for swimmers, triathletes, runners. I would have a hard time recommending this to the golf team."
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