How we rate
“Strong” = several concordant meta-analyses or systematic reviews. “Moderate” = one synthesis, or several controlled trials. “Limited” = early trials only. The rating is about the quality of the studies, not about how useful the supplement is.
Chocolate milk (post-workout)
Consumed right after a training session, it helps recover for the following training session, as well as and sometimes better than a commercial recovery drink. For muscle, trials are contradictory.
Benefits
- More endurance four hours later: trained cyclists pedaled 51 % and 43 % longer after chocolate milk (32 minutes) than after a carbohydrate drink (21 minutes) or a rehydration drink (23 minutes).
- Slightly more time to exhaustion: the meta-analysis finds 0.78 minutes more than with a placebo, and 6.13 minutes more than with drinks providing carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, in subgroup analyses.
- Less muscle damage: in 13 soccer players, creatine kinase, a marker of muscle damage, was lower after four days of intensive training (316.9 vs. 431.6 U/L with a carbohydrate drink of the same calories); in 10 cyclists, it rose by 27.9 U/L vs. 211.9 with a commercial drink.
- Better recovery in judo: in 12 judoka, one liter after each training session for 5 days improved timed push-ups by 14.6 % and a judo-specific physical fitness test by 6.8 %, and prevented the increase in soreness observed with water.
- Less soreness in badminton: in 7 female players, 500 mL after each session for a week increased aerobic power and time to exhaustion, and decreased soreness and perceived exertion, compared to water.
- Climbing more the next day: in 10 climbers, chocolate milk drunk after exercise, rather than water, allowed them to climb longer and farther 24 hours later, with less soreness three days after.
- More strength with strength training, in two trials: in 103 high school athletes, +12.3 % strength (bench press and squat) in 5 weeks vs. +2.7 % with a carbohydrate drink; in 22 untrained men, 500 mL per day for 8 weeks brought maximum strength to +36.7 % vs. +17.6 % with training alone.
- More muscle protein synthesis: in runners, skim chocolate milk after 45 minutes of running increased muscle protein synthesis and extended time to exhaustion, compared to a carbohydrate drink of the same calories.
Precautions
Calories: the beverage in one trial provided 504 kcal, including 84 g of carbohydrates, to be counted in your day. Lactose: a review considers it suitable for endurance athletes who tolerate lactose. Limitations: the meta-analysis, taken as a whole, finds no effect on time to exhaustion, perceived exertion, heart rate, lactate, or creatine kinase compared to a placebo or other beverages, and deems the evidence limited. For muscle, the longest trial finds nothing: 500 mL per day for 12 weeks of strength training added neither strength nor muscle, in both young and older men, compared to a placebo. Compared to raw milk with honey, chocolate milk left more soreness 72 hours after a leg session, in 20 trained men. The trials are small (7 to 22 participants for the most part) and reviews note inconsistent results from one study to the next.
Recommended dosage
In the trials: 240 mL to 1 L right after exercise, or enough to provide 1 to 1.5 g of carbohydrates per kilo and per hour, often repeated 2 hours later.
How to take it
- Timing: in the trials, it is drunk right after exercise; a review considers it optimal to have another serving 2 hours later.
- Amount: 240 to 500 mL per serving in most trials, up to one liter in judoka.
- Duration: from a few days of intensive training (4 to 5 days) to 8 or 12 weeks of strength training.
- Skim or not: several trials used skim or reduced-fat chocolate milk.
- Milk or plant-based beverage: chocolate soy or hemp drinks, and plain low-fat milk, performed just as well on a 20 km time trial four hours later; what matters is the energy provided.
- What it does not do: compared to a commercial drink or a carbohydrate drink of the same calories, it performs equally on performance the next day.
Did you know?
In judokas who had to "make weight" before a competition, one litre of chocolate milk after each training session did not prevent the desired weight loss: −1.1% of body weight in 5 days, compared to −1.9% with water, a non-significant difference.
What the studies say
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the efficacy of chocolate milk (CM) as a post-exercise recovery beverage. Subgroup analyses revealed that CM consumption significantly increased time to exhaustion compared to placebo and certain carbohydrate-protein-fat beverages. A significant attenuation of serum lactate was also observed with CM compared to placebo. The conclusions suggest that CM offers results similar or superior to other beverages, but higher-quality clinical studies are still needed.
Amiri M, Ghiasvand R, Kaviani M, Forbes SC, Salehi-Abargouei A. — European journal of clinical nutrition (2019) — View the source study
For information only: not a substitute for medical advice. Dietary supplements are not a replacement for a varied, balanced diet. Learn more