Chocolate milk may have greater benefits than protein shakes after a workout, scientists say. They have found that milk combined with chocolate has all the nutrients needed for the body to refill itself after intense activity. The protein helps the muscles recover and the calories replace those burned during exercise.
According to researchers, chocolate milk is the ‘gold standard’ for a recovery drink as long as the content of fat in the milk is low.
All of these claims go head to head with the popularity of protein shakes that are more and more used by average Joes, not just by bodybuilders and athletes. People somehow tend to believe that drinking protein will make them stronger and looking like an athlete or a bodybuilder, even without any form of exercise. Which is why the health supplements industry grew to be a multy-billion dollar business and it doesn’t seem to stop growing.
According to studies done at Cornell University, chocolate milk does the same thing as a protein shake. A software was used to create a formula for the best sports drink and it was combined with professional advice from experts in the fitness industry. There were also attempts to add extra omega 3 fatty acids as well as more sugar for glycogen recovery, but they were unsuccessful, as the fat content got too high and the test subjects experienced stomach issues from the high sugar content
The coordinator of sports nutrition at Cornell, Clint Wattenberg, said that after numerous experiments they settled on an eight ounce bottle of chocolate milk which contains 16 grams of protein and 230 calories as opposed to a bottle of regular chocolate milk which has 8 grams of protein and 160 calories.
They claim that 20 grams of protein is optimal for muscle recovery for an athlete weighing around 140-150 lbs, A bigger athlete, a 250lbs bodybuilder for example would be good with 35 g of protein in their post workout drink.
‘We don’t have to second-guess where this supplement is coming from’ – says Mr. Wattenberg.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recommended daily intake of protein is 0.4g per pound of ideal body weight.This means that a 200 pound man would have to consume about 80 grams of protein a day. But for athletes the needed dose of protein is increased by 2-3 times.
