RESEARCH NEWS Chocolate milk aids recovery

Low fat chocolate milkshake has came out as the top post-workout recovery drink compared to typical sports drinks and calorie-free beverages.

In two recent studies Dr John Ivy, lead researcher and chair at the University of Texas at Austin College of Education’s Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, tested the recovery benefits of drinking low-fat chocolate milk after exercise, against more typical drinks.

He found after riding a bike for 90 minutes at moderate intensity, then for 10 minutes of high intensity intervals, 10 trained cyclists had significantly more power and rode faster (reducing their ride time by an average of six minutes) when they consumed low-fat chocolate milk rather than a carbohydrate sports drink or calorie-free beverage.

Compared to the other recovery drinks, chocolate milk drinkers had twice the improvement in maximal oxygen uptake after four and a half weeks of cycling, which included intense exercise five days a week, with each exercise session followed by one of the three recovery beverages. Maximal oxygen uptake is one indicator of an athlete’s aerobic endurance and ability to perform

sustained exercise. The study included 32 healthy, amateur male and female cyclists.

Ivy’s research also revealed that low-fat chocolate milk drinkers built more muscle and shaved off more fat during training, ending up with a three-pound lean muscle advantage after four and a half weeks of training as compared to study participants who consumed a carbohydrate drink. This study also included 32 healthy, amateur male and female cyclists who rode for one hour, five days a week, and drank one of the three recovery beverages immediately following and one hour after the bout of exercise.

“We don’t yet understand exactly what mechanism is causing low-fat chocolate milk to give athletes

these advantages — that will take more research,” said Ivy,

“but there’s something in the naturally-occurring protein and carbohydrate mix that offers significant benefits.”

Ivy notes that a 30-minute recovery window after exercise, for people of all fitness levels, is as important as the nutrition supplement that is consumed. http://bit.ly/kWtiOd

Is sitting the new smoking?

A survey of 70,000 nurses suggests that women who spend most of their time sitting down when

they get home from work may be more likely to get a potentially fatal blood clot than those who are more active.

The study by Dr Christopher Kabrhel from Massachusetts General Hospital investigated the leisure habits of the 70,000 nurses, most of whom would be on their feet for most of the working day. However, over an 18-year period the researchers found that those who sat for longer than six hours a day when they were not working had twice the risk of a pulmonary embolism of those who sat for less than two hours a day. The results held good even after taking into account age, weight and smoking habits.

The increased risk women run by sitting down for hours is not a big one‚ an editorial published with the study says it is only slightly higher than that run by women who are on the pill or who take long-haul flights. But, it says, if the findings are valid they may have major public health ramifications. The study also found that inactivity correlated with heart disease and high blood pressure. “Prolonged periods of physical inactivity could be one of the hidden mechanisms that link arterial disease and venous disease,” said James Douketis, director of vascular medicine at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. http://bit.ly/ij97hh

10 The REPS Journal 2011;22(September):10-11