Recovery drinks

[sogood]

Posted about a year ago.

Now where did I put it.....

You better find it pronto, or you'll be blamed for their loss in the next club criterium!

[toolonglegs]

So what is in the chocolate that makes it special?...my protein drinks are always mixed with milk anyway and they are usually chocolate flavoured .
only been riding for 3 weeks so going to be a long time till any of this makes any difference to me .

[aldifan]

Here let me google that for you

the pubmed site links through to a heap of other articles as well in the side bar
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234590

Of course real science is often misused. The recent fad in electrolyte loaded sports drinks was boosted by some very good science that showed that children with acute gastroenteritis who drink electrolyte loaded drinks were more likely to live than the children just given water. This lifesaving science was immediately applied to provide overweight tired sweaty middle aged men such as myself with a great energy boost and feeling of superiority over those who were getting their rehydration from simple unscientific and common tap water (not even domestic mineral water).

Personally I think the protein drinks are great - they provide a great market for all that whey powder that used to just get sold as stock feed. In spite of the bad press it gets as a fad food and processed rubish it is actually quite nutritious.

By the way it also makes a great glue - the Mosquito fighter bomber of world war two fame was originally glued together with Casien (milk protein) based glue.

Even more importantly, eat a balanced nutritious, varied and hopefully tasty diet

[greyhoundtom]

From FIT MUM’S BLOG (Obviously a creditable source of scientific info)

How many times have you watched the Tour de France and seen professional cyclists drinking Coke? Have you ever wondered why they are drinking Coco-Cola and NOT drinking a sports performance drink? On long rides, cyclists are known to drink FLAT Coke mixed with a sports drink during the last quarter of long races.

My curious nature lead me to do a little research in this area and the following is what I found out. I always thought that was an “old-school” cyclist thing- but there is some research to support how the Coke beverage can help a cyclist. There is also quite a bit of research on the effects of high fructose corn syrup on performance. In the book, Endurance Sports Nutrition, 2nd Edition by Suzanne Girard Eberle; “caffeine most likely works by helping the body maintain better glucose levels (energy for muscles and the brain) and by stimulating the release of two powerful hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, which helps increase blood sugar levels and enhance strength of muscular contractions. “(page 87) Bottom line, it’s not really a recommended SPORTS DRINK, however, the caffeine and the sugar may help these guys get to the finish line easier!

For your reading pleasure, I also contacted Hammer Nutrition and Ron George for their opinions.
Randy Bain, Customer Care Representative from Hammer Nutrition and this is what he said;

”As a rule, simple sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup, artificial ingredients and preservatives should be avoided in our general diet. During exercise, they should simply not be consumed. Simple sugars cause unstable blood sugar levels, and require additional fluid and electrolytes for digestion. What this means for an athlete is unreliable energy levels, and resources being pulled from working muscles in order to aid in digestion. The digestive tract is working at a highly reduced capacity during exercise, since the body’s priority is keeping blood and oxygen moving to the brain, heart, lungs and muscles. Artificial ingredients and preservatives only create more work. Only the highest quality fuels should be consumed, including high-glycemic complex carbohydrates, protein and healthy lipids (depending upon the duration).

With that said, I have seen several cyclists “reward” themselves with a Coke after a long ride, because the body is depleted and it just plain tastes good. This certainly doesn’t replace the need for a more substantial recovery drink (with complex carbs and whey protein,) but as a fuel, soft drinks should not be consumed. Simple sugars should not be used as a fuel, but using them in combination with complex carbohydrates can be even more problematic.

You know you should always listen to your mum, and do what she says.

[Ken Ho]

I have a comment and a question.
The comment is that the clever man in the quoted reply above contradicted himself. First he stated that simple sugars should not be consumed, because the GIT is not absorbing or working well, due to diversion of blood flow to muscle. The he suggests complex carbs, protein and fat instead, which require a whole bunch more digestive power and cause parasympathetic stimulation. He also stated baldy that preservatives and additives add to the digestive workload, which is clearly a biased and unsupported, not to say irrelevant, opinion.
Accordingly, I would treat the whole reply as an opinion, not a factual or well-informed position.


The question is about what constitutes "chocolate milk". Most products like that are actually "dairy drink", with most of the good stuff taken out and replaced with artificial flavouring and vegetable gum.
Do you mix a flavouring with low-fat milk ?
HOw about Milo and milk ?
I'm asking seriously, as I'm doing Mt Warning next week with my wife, and want to put together a nutrition/drink pack for us. She will quite happily guzzle Diet Coke, but there is no calories in that.

[aldifan]

I believe that in the studies concerned that chocolate milk was included in the place of what might be called a placebo. My reccomendation therefore is to go to your local chemist and ask for double strength placebos.
The surprise in the studies was that the chocolate milk was better than the recovery drinks and not the same, when the fail point in most scientific studies is no difference. I also councel against taking the results of one study as a guide for life. Many other things also have an impact and in particular if you are eating a regular healthy diet it is highly unlikely that a last minute food suppllement will have much effect over rehydration and topping up your calories.
Your common sense should be your guide. For example many generations of Australians are imbibed with magic of the half time orange and it is no surprise that a bacon and egg Mcmuffin will be a good start to the day, though personally I go for the orange juice followed by a coffee rather than a coke, especially as the weather gets colder.
Having said that, if you are involved in something on the extreme end of the activity scale it may pay to be a little more scientific.
P.S. Having browsed the web for whey protien powder I can now conclusively state that cheese is the low priced byproduct of the manufacture of whey protien powder.

[toolonglegs]

Ken,if you are putting together a drink for the ride then you want more of a sports drink than a protein drink.