It Does A Body Good

If you've been reading this blog since June, you may recall that I was contacted by Gatorade, and wrote an article concerning Gatorade versus water. A lady by the name of Katherine Stewart has written me via email regarding the testing that Anaheim Ducks' goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had been through at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute in order to help better his on-ice performance. My conclusion was that water, for me, is still a better choice than Gatorade due to the how Gatorade erodes teeth faster than other liquids and hydrates no better, or, in some cases, worse, than water.

I'm sorry to do this to you, Gatorade, but you've taken another hit, and this one is a big one.

According to an article published by the Globe and Mail today, Gatorade provides no real benefit to helping anyone lose weight or gain muscle after activity. Nutritionally, Gatorade offers no real benefit to active people, according to the study, when compared to milk. In fact, milk is a better choice for building muscles and losing weight.

The article was written by Andre Picard. It reads:

"Want to get the most from your workout?

Then ditch the Gatorade and reach instead for a tall, cool glass of milk.

That is the message emerging from a new Canadian study that found that exercisers who drink milk after a workout gain more muscle and lose more fat than those who consume sports drinks.

The reason, researchers believe, is that, in addition to liquid for hydration and carbohydrates for energy, milk is also rich in protein, while sports drinks contain little or no protein.

'The protein in milk is high-quality,' Stuart Phillips, an associate professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton and lead author of the study, said in an interview.

'We also think the way milk proteins are digested by the body confers some benefits,' Dr. Phillips said prior research has demonstrated that what exercisers drink and eat in the one or two hours after a workout is crucial in determining muscle gain and fat loss.

The new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, involved 56 men aged 18 to 30 who signed up for a rigorous five-day-a-week weightlifting program over a 12-week period.

The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups, based on their recovery drink.

One group drank 500 millilitres (about two cups) of skim milk that contained 17.5 grams of protein, 25.7 grams of carbohydrates and 0.4 grams of fat. A second group received a soy drink with identical ratios of nutrients, while a third group got a sports drink.

All three beverages contained 735 calories and were flavoured identically with vanilla and served in opaque containers so participants did not know what exactly they were drinking.

Over the study period, all the young men gained muscle mass and most lost fat, but the milk drinkers came out ahead across the board.

For example, the milk-drinking group lost, on average, two pounds of fat each, compared with one pound each for those in the sports-drink group. The soy-beverage drinkers neither lost nor gained fat.

The milk drinkers also came out on top in muscle gain, adding, on average, 2.5 pounds more muscle than the soy-beverage drinkers and 3.3 pounds more than the sports-drink group. 'The practical results are obvious: If you want to gain muscle and lose weight as a result of working out, drink milk,' Dr. Phillips said."

Perhaps it is time for the NHL to ditch the high-carb, low-benefit sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade after games, and start promoting the dairy farmers across North America. This study just goes to prove that milk does a body good. If NHL players are always looking for an edge, they should look no further than the dairy section at their local market.

To the NHL and NHLPA, I ask you "Got Milk?" If you don't, maybe it's time you did. It's not like both the dairy farmers and the NHL can't help each other with a little cross-promoting. Parents want to get kids off the sweets and garbage that are causing childhood obesity rates to sky-rocket. If their NHL heroes and icons start promoting milk and activity like hockey, you never know what may happen on this continent. We were always told to drink our milk - now, we have even more reason to drink it.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!