by Amanda Smith, Associate Editor
You're hot, sweaty and tired. You gave your workout your all, and now your body is in need of rehydration. So, what do you reach for to recover from your time logged at the gym? Recent work from Griffith University shows that milk or a milk-based liquid meal supplement may be your best bet. Their work was shared in the journal of Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.
During exercise, sweat output often exceeds fluid intake, resulting in a fluid deficit. This deficit impairs performance in both high-intensity and endurance exercise, particularly when it exceeds 2 percent of body mass.
Consumption of dilute fluids, such as water, after exercise leads to a greater rate of fluid excretion, compromising rehydration. However, certain nutrients, including sodium, protein and calcium, have been demonstrated to improve a beverage's ability to restore fluid balance.
Since it contains all of these nutrients, milk fits the rehydration bill.
Cows' milk has been demonstrated to be more effective for postexercise rehydration when compared with traditional sports drinks. It also results in 40 to 50 percent less urine output than the same volume of a sports drink or water.
The aim of the study conducted by the Australian group was to compare the rehydration effectiveness of four beverages – Powerade, cows' milk, a soy beverage and a milk-based liquid meal supplement – following exercise induced fluid loss.
Fifteen males were provided a recovery drink after losing 2 percent of their body weight while cycling. They then consumed one of the four beverages, drinking 150 percent of the weight they lost.
Nearly everything beats Powerade when it came to refueling the body. After drinking the beverages, the milk-based supplement retained the most body mass, followed by the soy beverage, milk and then Powerade.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
February 2, 2015
