The benefits of drinking chocolate milk after sports are a pity to be missed

Naturally, if you feel achy and body aches after exercise. During exercise, the muscles all over your body are encouraged to continue to contract and burn a lot of calories in the body. If so, of course, you should always have water or isotonic drinks available to restore lost energy after exercise. Apart from these two types of drinks, you can actually drink chocolate milk, you know. Indeed, what are the benefits of drinking chocolate milk for the body, especially after exercise? Check out the following reviews.

Benefits of drinking chocolate milk after exercise

Almost everyone likes to drink chocolate milk, especially for children who are still growing. However, this does not mean that chocolate milk is only suitable for children, you know.

In fact, those of you who like to exercise are also advised to drink chocolate milk after exercise. The reason is, chocolate milk can also speed up the body's recovery after exercise.

These findings come from a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2018. Researchers tried to see the impact of drinking chocolate milk on heart rate, fatigue levels, serum lactate levels, and serum creatine kinase. All of these things are indicators that determine how quickly a person's energy recovers after exercise.

Compared to other sports drinks, chocolate milk is known to be faster to restore energy drained during exercise. In fact, these findings were also strengthened through a separate study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism in 2009.

In the study, athletes who drank chocolate milk after exercise retained more fluids in the body. The amount of body fluids is even 2 times more stable than athletes who do not drink chocolate milk.

How come?

Kate Patton, MEd, RD, CSSD, LD, as a nutritionist from the Cleveland Clinic, revealed that chocolate milk contains 3-4 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of protein and essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are types of amino acids that cannot be produced by the body themselves and must be obtained from food. One of them is through chocolate milk.

Well, this combination of nutrients can restore muscle fatigue that commonly occurs after exercise. In fact, chocolate milk is also touted as the best drink for maintaining endurance athletes during the training period.

If examined more deeply, the researchers also found that the protein synthesis process that occurs in muscles tends to be faster after athletes drink chocolate milk. This means, muscle tissue damaged during exercise is immediately replaced with new, healthier tissue due to the influence of chocolate milk.

In addition, fat-free chocolate milk can also increase the amount of glycogen in the body. Glycogen is the result of the breakdown of carbohydrates into energy which is used as fuel during exercise. This indicates that the benefits of chocolate milk are no longer in doubt for restoring lost energy after exercise.

How much chocolate milk should be recommended?

Actually, there are no specific standards regarding how much chocolate milk you should drink after exercise. About 1-2 glasses of chocolate milk is enough to restore your energy after exercise.

In order for the dosage to be more definite and measurable, don't hesitate to ask your trusted nutritionist. A nutritionist will recommend how many servings of chocolate milk for you based on the type of exercise, the intensity of the exercise, and your nutritional needs.

The benefits of drinking chocolate milk can indeed make our bodies healthier and more energized after exercise. However, it is better to keep your fluid needs filled by drinking lots of water.

Because after all, lost body fluids after exercise can only be replaced by drinking water. While you drink water to prevent dehydration, balance it with drinking chocolate milk to speed up recovery after exercise.

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