On a recent episode of Shark Tank a company named “Cow Wow” pitched a flavored milk drink designed to taste like the leftover milk after eating a bowl of cereal.
At one point, Chris Pouy, one of the owners of Cow Wow said that “flavored milk is being marketed as the perfect recovery drink for athletes.” He went on to say that “Got Milk” did a $25 million dollar campaign marketing chocolate milk to athletes because it has the perfect carb to protein ratio.
When Mark Cuban (owner of Dallas Mavericks) and Steve Tisch (co-owner of New York Giants) heard this statement, they laughed. Tisch said “not in my locker room, what about yours?” to Cuban, to which Cuban responded with a laugh and said “no.”
Isn’t that funny?
The milk industry pays athletes to sponsor their products, but professional athletes don’t actually put that garbage into their bodies. Not if they want to perform well.
It’s sad that kids and parents see these messages and think they are helping their kids to stay healthy.
Or they just have no idea what their athletes consume b/c they are owners, not trainers, coaches or players. Low-fat chocolate milk is a realistic recovery drink post-workout. This is just one of many studies that the “milk industry” has nothing to do with. http://www.utexas.edu/news/2011/06/22/milk_studies/
The study you linked to compared low fat chocolate milk to a carbohydrate-based drink similar to Gatorade. It’s not surprising that chocolate milk would be better than a low (or zero) protein drink, and it’s not proof that chocolate milk is an optimal recovery drink.
John Ivy, the researcher on this study has also stated “There could be ingredients in chocolate milk other than the carbohydrate and protein that are having an effect.”
Oh and yes, the “milk industry” does have something to do with this one. The study you mention specifically was sponsored by the National Dairy Council