Low-fat chocolate milk is just as good as sports drinks at helping athletes recover from exercise, according to a small study. Football players recovered from training just as quickly after drinking chocolate milk, and chemical markers in their blood suggested that they might suffer less from muscle breakdown.

THE FACTS

According to the US-based study (James Madison University in Virginia), British people spent £166 million on sports drinks in 2008. Most of which contain a source of energy, such as glucose, but many also contain electrolytes, which are salts, such as sodium and potassium.

Your body uses glucose and other sugars for energy, so sports drinks can help refuel the muscles during exercise. This is more important for people doing long workouts or training more than once a day. Another effect of glucose is to help your body absorb fluids more quickly. Fluids that contain around 3 to 6 per cent glucose seem to be absorbed faster by the body.

The idea of having electrolytes in sports drinks is to replace the salts you lose in your sweat. Again, this is more important if your priority is to perform for longer or recover quickly afterwards. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, water is just as good as a sports drink if you're going to be exercising for less than 45 minutes.

In the past few years, there's been interest in skimmed milk as an alternative to sports drinks. Milk contains lactose – a type of sugar – in similar amounts to the glucose in some sports drinks. It also contains the electrolytes sodium and potassium. An advantage of milk might be that it also contains protein, which could help build or repair muscle after training.

To find out whether milk could be a good choice for athletes, researchers asked a group of footballers to try low-fat chocolate milk or a high-carbohydrate sports drink after their training sessions.

THE NEW FINDINGS

During the study, 13 university footballers did two periods of training. Each consisted of a week of normal training followed by four days of more intensive exercise. After the more intensive sessions, players were given either a high-carbohydrate sports drink or low-fat chocolate milk.

The researchers measured how tired the players were, asked how sore their muscles were, and tested their muscle strength. They also looked at running speeds and performance on the pitch. There was no difference between the sports drink and chocolate milk.

The researchers also measured blood levels of a chemical called creatine kinase. Higher levels of this chemical are a sign of muscle breakdown. When players had been drinking chocolate milk, they had lower levels of creatine kinase.

READING BETWEEN THE RESEARCH LINES

Make sure you rehydrate during or after exercise. Unfortunately, it's impossible to give simple guidelines about how much to drink, as people's requirements vary hugely. In an hour during a marathon, some runners will lose less than half a litre of water in sweat, but others will lose more than 2 litres. You need to take into account your level of fitness, how hot it is, and the intensity of your training. Be extra careful if you're taking part in long or strenuous activities, such as a marathon or triathlon.

Several companies have started to sell milk-based sports drinks. Check the ingredients to see if they can offer you anything that ordinary skimmed milk or low-fat chocolate milk can't.

If you want to drink sports drinks and are keen to save money, you can make your own by mixing orange juice, water, and a pinch of salt.

Source: Reuters |  BMJ Publishing Group Limited ("BMJ Group") 2009