Chocolate milk is an absolutely delicious drink and, surprisingly, it is also a particularly effective drink for recovery. Thus, drinking a good glass of chocolate milk after exercising is recommended. Now it remains to find out why this drink helps in recovery.
A delicious drink rich in nutrients, but also in sugar
The chocolate milk usually refers to cow’s milk flavored with cocoa and sugar. While there are many brands of pre-made chocolate milk on the market, making it yourself at home is very easy. To do this, simply mix milk, cocoa or chocolat and a little sugar. Can be drunk hot or cold, chocolate milk is a drink that appeals to young and old alike. And in addition to being a delicious drink, chocolate milk also has the advantage of promoting recovery.
Indeed, chocolate milk is often presented as an excellent way to recover after a training session. It is also a good alternative to regular cow’s milk when trying to increase calcium and vitamin D children. However, many people wonder if the high sugar content of this drink overshadows its nutritional value. If this can indeed be a problem if the drink is drunk too frequently, especially with regard to children, chocolate milk remains a very effective and recommended drink for recovery.
Often a better alternative to other recovery drinks
According to a study led by Mojgan Amiri, a researcher at the Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, chocolate milk is even more effective than specially designed drinks for recovery. For his study, the researcher and his team carried out a meta-analysis, that is to say a review and a combination of several previous studies. Overall, an in-depth analysis of 12 previous studies led the researchers to conclude that chocolate milk improves measures of recovery and performance, specifically a metric called “time to exhaustion.”
This is partly due to the fact that this drink is particularly rich in nutrients. ” Chocolate milk contains carbohydrates, proteins and fats, as well as water and electrolytes, which can be ideal for post-exercise recovery “, said the researchers in a paper published in the journal European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Anyway, the researchers admit that their study is limited, and that it notably does not take into account the potential defects of the product.
These defects relate in particular to sugar and other potentially problematic additives in industrial chocolate milks. However, it is possible to ignore these concerns by avoiding industrial products and designing your own chocolate milk with well-chosen ingredients, including organic products and no added sugar. Moreover, by concocting your own chocolate milk, you can also choose the amount of sugar to add, and even replace the sugar with other naturally sweetening products, such as honey or stevia.