Once again, milk has been found to be the ideal post-workout beverage. In a study done on cyclists, researchers provided chocolate milk, a sports drink or a commercially available fluid replacement drink after an intense workout. Four hours later, the men were then asked to cycle to exhaustion. Those given chocolate-milk were able to cycle 51 percent longer than those given the sports drink and 43 percent longer than those given the fluid replacement drink.
Researchers from England’s Northumbria University speculate that the differences between the beverages could be due to the type of carbohydrates that are in milk or the fat content in the milk (because the overall calorie content among the beverages was similar).
So, before spending a lot of money on expensive sports drinks, consider milk after your next workout. Not only can it help improve recovery periods, but it also provides other nutrients, like calcium and vitamin D, that many of us don’t get enough of in the diet.