Imagine after a Super Bowl victory that the winning coach gets a cooler of chocolate milk dumped on his head.
Although that may sound bizarre, there is intriguing research being conducted about the wisdom of replacing Gatorade with chocolate milk -- at least for exercise.
Researchers have been releasing information the last six years that explores whether chocolate milk is better than a sports drink at the end of a workout.
"I would say about in the last five years, I have heard of it as a recovery drink from the NCAA, which looked into it," said Rodney Hansen, nutrition professor at Weber State University. "Personally, I remember 25 years ago drinking chocolate milk when I was an athlete in college and loving it."
Chocolate milk started drawing attention from the athletic world because of its nutritional content.
"It's a great source of calcium, potassium -- sometimes chocolate milk is fortified with iron, there's vitamin D, vitamin A," said Kristi Spence, sports dietitian at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital in Salt Lake City. "So there's a whole host of nutrients that we are getting from dairy that we are not getting from sports drinks."
MCTs
The medium-chain triglycerides found in milk are fatty acids that the body metabolizes easily, according to Hansen.
"Your body, overall, it wants to use fat. What does your body like to rebuild with? The energy of fat," Hansen said. "So your body can handle (MCTs) much easier. You can quickly get energy in the form of fat out to your cells in your muscles, and can be used there."
This form of fat burns as fuel during activity rather than being stored in cells.
Sugar and protein
The level of sugar in chocolate milk can also be a benefit.
"It has a good amount of sugar in it and if it's post-exercise, your body actually needs that for glycogen restoration," said Griff Neilson, personal trainer at Lifelong Fitness in Kaysville. Glycogen is stored as a fuel reserve of glucose or blood sugar in the muscles.
"When you're doing strength training, you actually deplete your muscles of glycogen," he said. "You are able to restore that through the sugars, through the proteins. It helps restore that and helps restore your muscles."
Adds Neilson: "You have to look at the recovery components to it. It's got a high percentage of protein to it. You are looking at 8 to 12 grams per serving, which is very good. It's your main muscle rebuilding blocks."
The chocolate in the milk does provide small amounts of carbohydrates and a low level of protein. The real benefit, however, might just be the taste.
"It ... makes it more palatable," Spence said. "After you finish something hard, drinking chocolate milk tastes better than drinking regular milk."
Weighty issue
Spence said that the key message about chocolate milk as a sports drink is that it is meant for recovery only.
It won't replace Gatorade during a soccer match or on a marathon. Spence said drinking milk during exercise isn't practical because its nutrients are for recovery and may be difficult to digest.
"Furthermore, the body can only tolerate a certain amount of calories while engaged in moderate-to-intense exercise, and chocolate milk may cause GI distress during exercise due to its higher caloric value," Spence said.
Drinking milk or a sports drink also can be counterproductive if the person is exercising only 30 to 45 minutes daily in order to lose weight.
"If you start incorporating sports drinks, you start incorporating chocolate milk, because you heard it's a good idea, you are getting a lot more calories in your diet than you probably need," Spence said. "In many cases, the calories that you consumed from a 16-ounce glass of chocolate milk could be more than you just burned.
"When I recommend chocolate milk as a recovery drink, it is for athletes that exercise pretty intensely over an hour or if they have consecutive days of high-intensity exercise, or athletes that are working out twice a day."
The verdict
There is no clear winner in this battle between chocolate milk and sports drink.
"Chocolate milk is a great choice and the research is kind of split down the middle," Spence said. "There are so many variables involved."
For one, it depends on the kind of chocolate milk. Hansen said to check the label for crucial nutritional levels.
"I think it depends on the brand," Hansen said. "Some of those out there can be rather high in sugar and saturated fats."
In the end, it might depend on personal preference.
"If you are starting to split hairs, you can say sports drinks might edge out chocolate milk," Hansen said. "But you are comparing an apple to an orange, in my opinion. They both have good aspects.
"To me, at times, it almost boils down to what works for the individual."
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