Bob S.

While on the way to work the AM, the radio was tuned to NPR (No comments please), I caught the last part of a blurb about some recent scientific study comparing chocolate milk to various sports drinks. I think the part that I heard was that chocolate milk was equal to G-ade & 50% superior to another, unnamed brand, sports drink. Did anyone catch this or now the true story on this "alleged" study. Thanks, Bob

Phatman

I could never drink any type of milk on a ride. aside from the fact that it needs to be kept cold, it is thick and is a dairy product, which never ceases to upset my stomach during exercise.

531Aussie

yeah:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=160900

I reckon there might be something to it -- the days my legs feel good after a hard ride seem to be coinciding with the days I drink milk

carlson5200

Probably chocolate milk has a ton more calories. I mean, if I'm gonna sin I'm gulping down a quart of the high test stuff; you know whole milk with extra sugar so you jitter around a bit.

Anyway, I agree it would be a bad move to have any milk on a ride. Besides, it does a bad job of quenching thirst.

JF1

I read this somewhere last summer as well and tried it. It is "okay" as a thirst quencher but what I hated was the "sticky spit" it produced. You know, the kind of spit that you can't spit very far and tends to cake around your mouth?
I do like chocolate milk after a good ride though.

krazyderek

During a ride, like at a half way rest point chocolate milk wouldn't be the best idea, it's thick, so u get that thick spit problem, and it's loaded with fat and protein which take more energy to digest then regular sugar sport's drinks.

My chemistry is a little rusty, but isn't milk quite a strong base aswell? Where water based sports drinks tend to be a bit more neutral on the ph scale.

I'm sure someone could argue that you can water down milk just like you can sports drinks to minimize the above mentioned draw back's... but still... fat and protein still take more energy to digest and convert into energy you can use.

After a workout though chocolate milk would be fine if it's what you prefer.

AndyGrow

I use it as a recovery drink. Skim milk w/Hersey's syrup. Low-fat, works great, tastes great.

oboeguy

I wonder where chocolate soy milk fits in?

krazyderek

lol.... ever see that comic that does the skit about soy milk?

"Ever seen this soy milk crap? What the **** is this ****??, it used to be called joy juice, but nobody drank it so then they changed the name to Soy Milk, and snuck it in the milk isle, bunch of tricky ****ers. To this day i have yet to see a soy titty where soy "milk" comes from"....

to answer your question.... no clue....

brianallan

I drink it for recovery from time to time. If I don't have access to good food, it's a good choice from the gas station.

Dick Rhee

Hey my girlfriend and I are both huge fans of NPR. Is there an anti-NPR coalition on these forums or something?

Anyway, I caught that news piece too this morning on my way to class. Sounds...odd. I will never attempt this.

Nothing is more vile than room temperature milk.

PS: Vanilla soy milk is wonderful with cereal.

Pico

Why is chocolate milk instead of just regular milk? Is there more sugar?

banerjek

How about milk that's been in a bottle in the sun for a couple hours on a summer day?

I love milk and it has been one of my favorite recovery beverages for years. However, there's no way I'm going to ride with that in my bottles.

Two things about the study sounded a little fishy. One is that the study was funded by the dairy industry. The second is that the cyclists who drank milk could ride 50% longer. If anything really worked that well, we'd all be using it.

In the study, the cyclists all had a rest period in the middle of the trial -- this is very different from riding constantly all day.

dogpound

just as good.
maybe better, doesn't give you that nasty spit thing.

KDB

There is a lot of data/research into sports drinks and what they do and don't do. Most everything I have read points you to water as the best choice except in certain situations; endurance being one of the main areas with some data to support their effectiveness over water: long distance runners, biking would fit here, and long tennis matches, etc. Few people in regular activities need a sports drink, few more will exercise enough to need one.

I could easily see milk (used to be known as "nature's most perfect food" in advertisements) being better than sports drinks for most people in terms of overall nutrition and recovery. I didn't hear the NPR report (I'm a big fan/supporter of NPR), but I doubt that biking was part of the testing. As for the fat, like all foods there is fat and then there is fat (just like there are carbs and then there are carbs); whole milk has fats that are generally good for you (and I'm not talking something like 6 gallons a day, but a couple of glasses...when I was a kid 2 8oz glasses was the recommened dailey dose).

I would think we'd have at least one and probably many dietitians on BF who could answer with even more accuracy. As for the spitting, I agree, as a personal choice, I go with water as milk seems to constrict my throat, and I end up spitting blah...now with warm cookies or chocolate cake milk is the choice

CdCf

Milk is slightly acidic. About 6-6.5 pH. Unless you leave it for too long - then it's down to maybe 3! But you wouldn't drink it then anyway!

The main problem I'd have with milk as a sports drink, is that it doesn't keep well during summer. After 3-4 hours, it's not very pleasant anymore...

The Octopus 

I'm not a nutrition expert by any means, but what I've seen (and what they reported on the NPR story) was that chocolate milk, like a lot of recovery drinks, contains that "magical" 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein. For endurance events and for recovery, you need that protein. And it's a lot cheaper than the foofoo sports recovery drinks. A pint of the stuff at the gas station costs 89 cents here.

A randonneur buddy of mine grabbed a quart of the stuff midway through our 600K last year. I thought he was nuts -- how are you going to digest that? Won't the lactic acid kill you? After seeing how well he did through the remainder of the ride, I was sold. At the National 24-Hour Challenge last year, I consumed 2,440 calories of chocolate milk in the last 12 hours of the race. Loved it. Fast, easy to digest (if you like and can handle milk), and cheap. No problem with lactic acid on an endurance ride: you're not going anerobic. I goofed around with Perpetuum at my most recent 24-hour event with mixed results. I rode like a stud for 18 hours but then had a really, really acidic stomach and didn't feel too hot. Heat issues from the day? Not enough electrolytes? The Perpetuum? I don't know, but I was wishing that I'd been on the chocolate milk program that day....

KDB

Having read two new posts I stand corrected: biking was part of the NPR report. I think Octopus' post is very telling: high quality calories (more than from any sports drinK--generally 50 calories in 8oz) that are easily digested (by some/most people). I'll have to go to their web page and track down the report.

Dick Rhee

Believe it or not, they specifically said that cyclists were the test subjects.

Still though, I don't care if it'd turn me into a Cat 1 racer, there's no way in hell I'm drinking lukewarm chocolate milk on a ride. I'll stick with my water and gel packs, thanks.

KDB

Endurance is where the research shows some benefits of the sports drinks over water. You have to go long enough to lose the stuff the sports drink say they are replacing and then be able to absorb and use the nutrients they offer. My memory tells me something like 2 hours plus before they are better than water and, you still only get 50 calories per 8oz.

The Octopus 

Oh, there was also a short blurb about this study in Sports Illustrated a week or two ago. (No, not the swimsuit edition....) It didn't mention cycling specifically, but it did cite the 4:1 carb-to-protein ratio as why chocolate moo was so effective.

If milk doesn't float your boat, I know a lot of distance (guys for whom a century is a warm-up) riders use Ensure. Same stuff; lots of calories; don't think you have to keep it cold.

kahn

Actually, Costco (others, I'm sure) sell a "juice box" version of ORGANIC low-fat chocolate milk that does not need refrigeration. And being low-fat (2%????), it is not as thick as whole milk. Good stuff after hiking or cross-country skiing but I do it in limited amounts due to lactose intolerance but one container generally goes down reasonably well.

oboeguy

I second the "juice box" milks for hiking.

krazyderek

YUCK! lol... my parents gave me Ensure for lunch for years when i was in highschool, it's gotta be the dryest tasting liquid i've ever had, i was almost convinced it was the offspring of an experiement to make flavoured cement mix.



I don't know about you guys, but they have 0.5% low fat choc milk here which is much much better(in terms of not being to thick). This coming from a skim milk guy. 2% makes me sick.

Patriot

EggNog around Christmas time (cold outside) is always an option if you're searching for a little extra protein on your rides.