Saturday, February 16, 2008

Post Workout Drinks - a waste of money?


I have posted about post workout nutrition before (where we saw that eating carbs after a workout can blunt the fat burning effect).

Here is a new study that indicates that - despite all the marketing to the contrary - a post workout carbohydrate or protein/carbohydrate drink does not enhance recovery...so don't waste your money. Worth thinking through....


Carbohydrate-protein drinks do not enhance recovery from exercise-induced muscle injury.

This study examined the effects of carbohydrate (CHO), carbohydrate-protein (CHO+PRO), or placebo (PLA) beverages on recovery from novel eccentric exercise. Female participants performed 30 min of downhill treadmill running (-12% grade, 8.0 mph), followed by consumption of a CHO, CHO+PRO, or PLA beverage immediately, 30, and 60 min after exercise. CHO and CHO+PRO groups (n = 6 per group) consumed 1.2 g . kg body weight-1 . hr-1 CHO, with the CHO+PRO group consuming an additional 0.3 g . kg body weight-1 . hr-1 PRO. The PLA group (n = 6) received an isovolumetric noncaloric beverage. Maximal isometric quadriceps strength (QUAD), lower extremity muscle soreness (SOR), and serum creatine kinase (CK) were assessed preinjury (PRE) and immediately and 1, 2, and 3 d postinjury to assess exercise-induced muscle injury and rate of recovery. There was no effect of treatment on recovery of QUAD (p = .21), SOR (p = .56), or CK (p = .59). In all groups, QUAD was reduced compared with PRE by 20.6% +/- 1.5%, 17.2% +/- 2.3%, and 11.3% +/- 2.3% immediately, 1, and 2 d postinjury, respectively (p < .05). SOR peaked at 2 d postinjury (PRE vs. 2 d, 3.1 +/- 1.0 vs. 54.0 +/- 4.8 mm, p < .01), and serum CK peaked 1 d postinjury (PRE vs. 1 d, 138 +/- 47 vs. 757 +/- 144 U/L, p < .01). In conclusion, consuming a CHO+PRO or CHO beverage immediately after novel eccentric exercise failed to enhance recovery of exercise-induced muscle injury differently than what was observed with a PLA drink.


Brad Pillon author of East Stop Eat stresses that so much of accepted sports nutrition is driven by marketing, with people trying to sell you things. The Science of Sport blog
also said similar things when they pointed out that much of the idea of drinking sports drinks came from studies sponsored by the very companies which made sports drinks.....

5 comments:

Goi said...

Well, this study focuses on steady state cardio. The effects of protein and carb supplementation on weight lifting subjects have been studied, and have been shown to reduce muscle damage and improve performance.

Chris said...

Thanks for the comment Goi.

It was steady state as you say so strictly - as you say - any conclusions should be limited to that form of exercise.

Interesting that they chose down hill running for the exercise. I think the most muscle soreness I've ever had was after a long downhill race.

Goi said...

They probably wanted to look at eccentric movement. Just my guess...

Anonymous said...

Why should exercise that doesn't last long enough to deplete glycogen stores be expected to show anything related to recovery? Now if they had gone for at least an hour, preferably two, then perhaps this study would mean something.

Eccentric exercise has been shown in many studies to increase DOMS. But this generally has more to do with undertraining of the motions compared to concentric.

Chris said...

Anon - I understand what you are saying, but there is so much marketing out there indicating that recovery drinks with protein and carbohydrate can enhance recovery - even from bodybuilding type workouts.

For example here or here