Flores, H. A., Schmitt, R., Shull, R., & Astorino, T. A. (2012). Efficacy of chocolate lactaid milk as a recovery supplement on cycling and strength performance in young, active women. Presentation 2362 at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, San Francisco, California; May 29-June 2, 2012.

This study examined the effects of chocolate milk (CM) and carbohydrate (CHO) on subsequent cycling and strength performance in active women (N = 8). Ss completed familiarization trials including a VO2max test, five interval training bouts, a 12.9 km cycling time-trial, and 10 repetitions of knee extension/flexion (at 60°/s on an isokinetic dynamometer over two days. Three days later, Ss cycled for 30 min at 50%Wmax followed by eight 60-s bouts at 100 %Wmax to deplete muscle glycogen. Immediately post-exercise and two hours later (50% Kcal), Ss ingested an isocaloric, randomly assigned meal, CHO (Bagel + Gatorade = 370 Kcal, 77 g of CHO) or CM (370 Kcal, 53 g CHO, 6 g fat, and 18 g PRO). The next day, Ss completed a 16.6 km time-trial followed by three bouts of 10 maximal-repetitions on the isokinetic dynamometer. Three days later, Ss repeated the 2-day exercise protocol and ingested the other recovery beverage after day 1. Ss standardized dietary intake and refrained from intense exercise for 48 hours pre-trial. All testing was conducted during the follicular phase.

In the time-trial, mean power, average speed, and overall time were similar between the CM and CHO conditions. There was no change in muscle force between CM and CHO across bouts.

Implication. In active women, there was no difference in subsequent exercise performance after ingesting chocolate milk or carbohydrate post glycogen-depleting exercise. Thirty minutes of cycling may have been inadequate to fully exhaust glycogen stores.

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