Recovery foods: What to choose? Review of the research.

Often people wonder if buying a commercially engineered sports food (drinks, gels, bars, etc) is better for you when compared to regular food to aid in muscle recovery from exercise. If it is packaged to say so, it must be right? 

Well some of those products do work, but they are not necessarily better. They may be convenient, but they do not contain any magic ingredients that cannot be found in foods you regularly purchase. A study was done comparing a carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage (sports drink) and a bowl of cereal with nonfat milk. The objective of the study was to determine what, if any, difference the two foods had on muscle recovery from exercise. 

This study recruited eight male and four female cyclists or triathletes. The athletes rode a bike for two hours. Immediately after the ride, a muscle biopsy was done on the subjects (ouch!). Then the subjects were given either the sports drink or the cereal with nonfat milk. They waited an hour and another muscle biopsy was done. The researchers found that both increased glycogen in the muscle, but only the cereal significantly increased muscle proteins. 

Whole foods, like the cereal and milk, are a great option for muscle recovery and are often less expensive. 

Reference:
Cereal and nonfat milk supports muscle recovery following exercise by Lynne Kammer, Zhenping Ding, Bei Wang, Daiske Hara, Yi-Hung Liao, and John L. Ivy