Use chocolate milk as a recovery drink

Fitness experts are discovering the benefits of drinking chocolate milk after exercise.

First, it tends to be cheaper, depending upon how you buy it. Second, it can conveniently be made at home. Third, it doesn't have any artificial coloring in it. Last, and probably the most important, is chocolate milk's nutritional value: 1 cup of lowfat 1 percent chocolate milk has 26 grams of carbohydrates, 8 grams of protein, 3 grams of fat and 160 calories.

There are two recent studies I found interesting. Presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's 57th annual meeting in Baltimore, these studies show that chocolate milk may be a worthwhile post-exercise recovery beverage.

William Lunn, Ph.D., who collaborated on both studies, found that ingesting chocolate milk after a run supported skeletal muscle protein synthesis during recovery. They also found that chocolate milk contributes to replenishing glycogen stores in muscles, a source of fuel during prolonged exercise. Muscle glycogen levels in the same eight male runners were tested 30 minutes and 60 minutes following ingestion of either the fat-free chocolate milk or a carbohydrate beverage.

Muscle glycogen content was greater for the chocolate milk drinkers at both measurement times, further supporting the use of this drink in recovery nutrition strategies.

As a parent, I don't feel guilty for giving my child chocolate milk after exercise because I'm convinced "it does a body good."