A recent study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism discusses the use of low-fat chocolate milk, Gatorade and Endurox R4 as recovery drinks. In this study, endurance-trained cyclists performed better in a second workout after consuming chocolate milk or Gatorade than Endurox. Does this mean you should switch your recovery drink? Maybe or maybe not. Let’s look at a few of the factors to help you decide.

Size of the Study
The study subjects were nine male, highly-trained endurance cyclists from the Indiana University cycling community with an average age of 22 years. Since the number, age and sex of the participants was small, the ability to apply the results across a large population may be limited.

Type of Carbohydrates
The amounts of carbohydrates were equal in both the chocolate milk and Endurox while the Gatorade contained slightly less. The main difference between the chocolate milk and Endurox is the type of carbohydrate. Milk contains monosaccharides glucose and fructose and the disaccharides sucrose and lactose. A monosaccharide is a “simple sugar” which means that it contains a single sugar molecule and is quickly digested. A disaccharide is two simple sugars put together. For example, sucrose is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose. Disaccharides are also quickly digested. Gatorade contains the same sugars as milk but does not contain lactose.

Endurox, on the other hand, contains the complex carbohydrate maltodextrin along with glucose and fructose. A complex carbohydrate is a long chain of simple sugars. This type of carbohydrate takes the body longer to break down than a mono- or disaccharide which means it takes longer to get into the body’s system.

Type of Exercise
In this study, the subjects completed intervals with the goal of depleting their muscle glycogen stores. They then rested for four hours and drank the drink assigned for that session. The subjects then cycled at 70% of their VO2max until exhaustion. It is this measure – the time to exhaustion – that was used as one of the main measures of this study.

The cyclists and researchers administering the drinks were unaware of the contents of the bottles since the bottles were opaque and unlabeled. The subjects may have had a clue since each drink has a different flavor and consistency. However, the researchers did not believe that the subjects changed their performance based on the drink.

The Results
The results showed that the cyclists cycled 49% longer after drinking low-fat chocolate milk and 54% longer after drinking Gatorade than with Endurox. Additionally, total work performed as 57% higher with chocolate milk and 48% higher with Gatorade than Endurox.

Should I Switch?
Maybe or maybe not. It depends on a couple of things. First, what is your recovery period? If you are not competing or working out again soon, Endurox may still be a great choice. Remember that Endurox contains complex carbohydrates which take longer to enter the system. Therefore, all of the carbohydrates in Endurox may not have gotten into the subject’s system by the time they were in their second round of exercise. The athletes rated that stomach distress was greater with Endurox at the end of the recovery period which may also indicate that the carbohydrates were not completely absorbed. However, if you are looking to go again later in the day, for example a second or third workout, low-fat chocolate milk may help your body be ready for that next workout.

Second, if you are lactose intolerant or have other reasons for not consuming dairy products, milk is not an option for you. For those days when you work out multiple times a day, Gatorade might be a better choice than Endurox.

A Final Thought –
The media loves to report on studies and just give the up or down side without some of the cautions or deeper analysis into the results. Question what you see and hear when it comes to health-related studies.

If you have a nutrition-related question or study you’d like broken down, please leave a note and I’ll see what I can do.

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments!
Penny
eatingforperformance.com – Coming Soon!