From a sports nutrition perspective, why is low-fat chocolate milk a useful recovery beverage?

The argument is that after strenuous exercise an athlete needs to restore glycogen levels and consume enough protein to help rebuild and repair worn out muscles. Low-fat chocolate milk answers the call with simple sugar and protein to replenish muscles after exercise; it also contains vitamin D, calcium, and B1.

Athlete endorsements​

“Built With Chocolate Milk,” a recent pro-chocolate milk campaign and USDA checkoff program, features FIFA World Cup Champion Kelly O’Hara promoting chocolate milk as one of the fundamental building blocks of her athletic success.

 The campaign advocates for the consumption of chocolate milk by boasting professional athletes including NBA player Kevin Love and three-time Olympic gold medalist Jessica Hardy, who all claim they drink the sweetened dairy beverage to help them perform better.

Aside from the name recognition of famous athletes, the campaign claims to be “backed by science” citing more than 20 studies that support the benefits of recovering with the protein and nutrients found in chocolate milk.

In one referenced study on the campaign website, it was found that endurance-trained cyclists who drank low-fat chocolate milk after an intense period of exercise were able to work out longer and harder during a second exercise period compared to beverages that just  contained carbohydrates.

Not for everyone​

Founder and CEO of Feel Good Nutrition Alec Smith, RD, who specializes in sports nutrition, believes that chocolate milk can serve as a great recovery aid, but only for a select number of highly active athletes.

“The claims they say are absolutely true, I just don’t think it’s applicable to everyone,”​ Smith told DairyReporter. “If you’re a very high performing athlete, you’re maybe doing two-a-days, I think chocolate milk is a great recovery aid.” ​

Smith says that the sugar in chocolate milk is meant to reenergize an athlete for his or her next taxing workout, something most recreational athletes simply do not need after completing moderate exercise.

Most of Smith’s clients can be described as the “weekend warrior” ​who make an effort to stay active, but are not working out their muscles to the point of exhaustion where drinking chocolate milk would be beneficial to their recovery process, he added.

Rebranding of chocolate milk​

It seems chocolate milk is being marketed more frequently as  natural sports recovery drink, while US dairy milk consumption declines.

In her book Got Milked?​ Alissa Hamilton, Ph.D., aims to break down what she says is the misleading perception that milk is a nutritious drink. According to Hamilton, milk has been unnecessarily institutionalized into the North American diet, with the USDA health guidelines advocating for three servings of dairy a day.

Her opinions on chocolate milk are not any more favorable. Hamilton’s view of the health benefits of consuming chocolate milk after a workout echoes her attitude towards regular milk saying that physical recovery cannot be remedied with a sugar-loaded drink like chocolate milk.

“My issue is that it’s promoted as being ideal. Chocolate milk is full of processed sugar, almost the equivalent of a soft drink,”​ Hamilton told DairyReporter. “Nobody needs processed sugar after a hard workout.”​

As a former collegiate cross country runner, and someone who runs and lifts weights routinely, chocolate milk is the last drink Hamilton says she would turn towards to replenish her fatigued muscles.

“We live in an environment where we have better alternatives,”​ she said.

While healthier alternatives are available, Hamilton acknowledges that convenience is driving the popularity of chocolate milk consumption.

“True, milk is convenient. It’s everywhere. You won’t find bushels of kale or broccoli at the corner Stop n’ Go,”​ Hamilton writes in her book. “You are guaranteed to find cartons of milk, from nonfat to full fat, from strawberry to chocolate flavored.”​

Every day athletes can benefit from chocolate milk​

When the USDA’s Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) first launched the Built With Chocolate Milk campaign in 2012, the topic of post-recovery nutrition was fairly new territory for the average competitive athlete. After gauging consumer interest and gathering scientific research, chocolate milk was further validated as a post-workout recovery drink.   

“Only the most elite athletes were knowledgeable about post-recovery nutrition,”​ Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) marketing director Miranda Abney told DairyReporter.

The campaign started with chocolate milk as the official beverage of the US Olympic Swimming Team in 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

“Swimmers have a history of drinking chocolate milk because they lose a lot of nutrients in the water,”​ Abney said.

However, you do not necessarily have to be competing in the next IronMan to reap the health benefits of consuming chocolate milk after exercise - Abney says that chocolate milk is physically helpful to anyone doing moderate to vigorous activity for at least 45 minutes at a time.

“The target audience is someone who is serious about working out; someone who really sweats it out on a regular basis.”​

The MilkPEP campaign helped increase chocolate milk sales by 8% at the end of 2015 with sales expecting to increase through the rest of the year, Abney said. 

When it's time to choose a liquid chug after a long, tough workout, there's a slew of sports drinks out there. But research shows that there's another workout recovery drink to add to the list: chocolate milk.

According to previous research published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, this kids' favorite school lunch sip is as an optimal post-exercise recovery aid. And a recent review of 12 studies confirms that, although further studies with larger sample sizes are needed, chocolate milk does appear to provide either similar or superior results when compared to a placebo or other recovery drinks.

Before your stomach recoils, take a look at chocolate milk's ingredient list. Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar-additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy.

According to physiologist and study author Joel Stager, Ph.D., director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Indiana University, it's a catch-all workout recovery drink for a high-endurance athlete. "It's water plus a whole lot more," he said. (Related: Trainers Swear by These Post–Sweat Sesh Snacks)

In other words, drinking plain old water after exercise replaces sweat losses...and that's it. "Chocolate milk provides carbohydrate replenishment to your muscles-something they can metabolize," adds Jason Karp, Ph.D., another researcher for the study. "There's nothing to metabolize in water."

Here, we break down whether you should add the drink to your post-workout routine.

Ready to switch your bottled water for chocolate milk after workouts? Assess your exercise intensity first. Downing a post-workout beverage chock-full of carbohydrates probably isn't ideal for the casual weekend golfer, Stager says-and that's key. A drink like chocolate milk is most useful to a cyclist, swimmer, or long-distance runner. These sports stress high endurance levels and constant, sustained movement. Competing athletes need high levels of calories, carbs, and protein to sustain that level of performance.

That's why Stager tested out chocolate milk's performance as a workout recovery drink on nine cyclists. In his lab, each athlete biked until exhaustion, and then rested for four hours. During this break, each consumed low-fat chocolate milk, Gatorade, or the high-carbohydrate sports drink Endurox R4. Afterward, they cycled to exhaustion again. His research team concluded that the athletes who consumed chocolate milk after workouts performed just as well or better in the future as those who drank the other beverages.

The high carb and protein content in milk make it an incredibly effective recovery drink, Stager says-even though it's never been marketed as one. (FYI, chocolate milk is just one of our top five unconventional post-workout drink picks.)

Choosing the right post-workout drink is just step one of the recovery process, says Karp. Besides what you use to re-fuel, when you do it is just as important.

Research points to the importance of a post-exercise "meal" within 30 to 60 minutes of working out, at the point when muscle glycogen (energy) stores are at their lowest. "I generally recommend eating or drinking something in the first 20 minutes after a workout," said Mike Huff, former coordinator of the Duke University Sports Performance Program. "At that point, your muscle fibers have been depleted and they're ready to suck something up."

And not taking steps to replenish your muscles right away can hurt your next performance-big time, Karp says. "Elite athletes may only have six to seven hours between workouts. It's much more important for them to make a full recovery, and strategies like these can maximize that."

Flavored drinks stimulate your appetite and allow you to drink more, replacing water lost as sweat from the workout. You consume more if you actually like what you're drinking, Stager found. His athletes clamored for chocolate milk-and shunned other high-carb options like Endurox R4, energy bars, or gels. (Bonus: Exactly What to Eat Before and After Working Out)

Post-workout food options don't have to end at the supermarket shelf either. A trainer, basketball player, and avid weightlifter, Huff loves creating his own blend. His homemade high-carb, high-protein beverage is a mixture of bananas, peanut butter, Carnation Instant Breakfast (a calcium, protein, and carb powder), and-you guessed it-milk.

Liquid and solid carbohydrates are equally good. Your body doesn't care, as long as it gets what it needs, says sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, R.D., author of The Cyclist's Food Guide. "You just have to learn which sports snacks settle best for your body-gels, gummy bears, dried figs, animal crackers, defizzed cola, whatever," she said.

As for milk, Stager continues to recommend it to his athletes, and Karp, a runner and coach, has permanently switched from Gatorade to chocolate milk to recover from his daily runs. "It's easy, it's cheap, and it's got everything that I need after my workout."

If your body can't tolerate the lactose in chocolate milk, any combination of simple sugars (a traditional sports drink) and protein (whey, egg white, or soy protein powder) will most likely give you the same benefits as drinking chocolate milk after workouts.

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