Chocolate Milk: The New Sports Drink

Wouldn’t it be great if the yummy deliciousness of chocolate milk was beneficial to your health and exercise?  Recent studies have shown that chocolate milk could be as beneficial (if not more so) as sports drinks.  After working out and then drinking chocolate milk during their rest, athletes are able to work out longer during their second session and proved to have more power as well.

What Gives Chocolate Milk the Edge?

Chocolate milk proves to be a significant source of carbohydrates as well as protein, a source most sports drinks don’t offer.  Both of these are necessary components for energizing the body and repairing muscle so the body can continue moving with the same amount of energy as before.  Chocolate milk isn’t an all cure for exhaustion it just helps an athlete continue to perform at top level because the body is able to start repairing right away due to the carbohydrates and protein within chocolate milk.

In order to prove this theory scientists compiled a study using bicyclists as their subject.  Nine bicyclists rode until they had no energy left then were able to rest for four hours before being put back on bikes until they were overcome by exhaustion.  During the bicyclists’ break they were given one of three drinks:

-Fluid replacing (or traditional) sports drink
-chocolate milk (low-fat)
-Carbohydrate replacing sports drink

The second session of bike riding proved to show that those rehydrated with chocolate milk were able to work out almost twice the time compared to those that drank the carbohydrate replacing sports drink and could work out for the same length of times as those that had the traditional sports drink.

The Other Benefits of Choosing Chocolate Milk

Sports drinks are designed to help rehydrate the body after a workout and they work for that purpose, however chocolate milk has more essential nutrients that regular sports drinks just don’t have.  From a variety of vitamins to iron and calcium, chocolate milk has seven of these essential nutrients to help keep an athlete healthier during a working out.

Chocolate Milk over Other Products

Because of the combination of components within chocolate milk that aren’t offered within other drinks chocolate milk proves to have more benefits for athletes.  While the carbohydrates replacing sports drink is helpful to the body chocolate milk appears to be better in giving athletes a little extra push in energy and power because of the specific combination of proteins and carbohydrates.

It’s important to remember, however, that with milks comes some fat if you don’t buy the correct type.  Obviously choosing skim milk (which has 0 fat calories) over whole milk (which has 48 percent of its calories coming from fat) is going to be more beneficial to your body.  Aim for a low-fat choice in chocolate milk so your workouts will be worth your effort.

If chocolate milk isn’t the drink for you then there are drink options to help you have the best workout possible.  Basically your goal is to have a combination of helpful proteins and simple carbohydrates.  You can do this any way like combining simple carbohydrates with a sports drink containing proteins like hydrolysates.

For more useful information, please visit our website: THE KNOWLEDGE BASE, and look for the SPORTS & FITNESS section.

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