health benefits of chocolate milk - After a long race, many runners are picking up a bottle of chocolate milk instead of a bottle of water or sports drink. Turns out, chocolate milk doesn’t just quench your thirst; it may also help improve the body's recovery after those miles on the road. It also could help athletes across the sports spectrum get the most from their workouts.
Rehydration
When you complete any endurance exercise – whether it’s an intense workout at the gym or a long run – you need to rehydrate your body with essential nutrients lost through sweat. Chocolate milk may be a better choice than a sports drink or water. Milk has a good supply of electrolytes such as sodium, potassium and other minerals – all of which you lose through sweat. Milk also empties more slowly from the stomach, which means its nutrients gets absorbed much slower, says Brian D. Roy in the “Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.”
Recovery
After a workout, you need to consume some protein alongside carbohydrates to help repair any microtears that occur in muscles during the workout and restore energy. Chocolate milk is a good source of both. The naturally occurring mix of protein and carbs offers many benefits for athletes, says Dr. John Ivy, lead researcher on the studies and chair of The University of Texas at Austin College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Education.
Building Muscle
Milk does more than just help muscles recover. Ivy found that you can build more muscle and lose fat during training if you drink chocolate milk after a workout. His research found that people who drank low-fat chocolate milk after a workout ended up with a three-pound lean muscle advantage over those who had a regular sports drink after about four weeks.
Improved Performance
Chocolate milk also has been found in some studies to improve performance of athletes. Ivy’s research at the University of Texas found that cyclists who drank chocolate milk rode faster and had more power than those who drank a sports drink. His research found that milk drinkers had twice the improvement in maximal oxygen uptake than those who consumed a sports drink. That’s important, because your energy supply depends on how much oxygen can be delivered to your muscles as they work. A study in a 2011 issue of “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” found that college soccer players who drank chocolate milk between morning and afternoon workouts could perform longer before becoming fatigued compared to players who drank a sports drink.
