In the study, 11 recreational athletes performed two separate exercise tests on a stationary bicycle. After completing a 90-minute ride that included some tough intervals, they underwent muscle biopsies to measure their now-depleted level of glycogen. For the next four hours, they rested in a chair while consuming two modest meals of either fast foods or sport foods (see Table below). After four hours and another leg biopsy, the subjects completed a 20K time trial as a performance test to confirm their glycogen resynthesis. All subjects followed both protocols—eating fast food after exercise or sports foods after exercise—in a randomized procedure with a week of rest between tests. They were informed about the two types of meals they were consuming and could see all packaging, boxes, and labels. MORE: Are butter, beef and bacon good for runners? All meals were roughly 70 percent carbohydrate and 10 percent protein. Both the fast food protocol and the sports food protocol included nearly equal amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and calories. Researchers found that both protocols produced similar levels of glycogen resynthesis, glucose response, insulin response, cholesterol response, and time-trial performance. “We expected to see about the same glycogen recovery, but we were not expecting the nearly identical blood data, or the nearly identical time-trial times,” lead researcher Brent Ruby, Ph.D., told Runner’s World Newswire by email. “Our results show that fast food, in the right amounts, can provide the same potential for muscle glycogen as sports nutrition products that probably cost more.” Asked about possible health differences between sport foods and fast food, Ruby, from the University of Montana’s Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism Center, said: “I’ll tell you this, you won’t find sports nutrition products down at the local farmers’ market. Americans don’t have health problems because they’re not eating exclusively organic, or vegan, or whatever. They have problems because they eat too much for the very little exercise they get.” MORE: What’s In Vitamin Drinks? In many ways, the Montana result recalls the chocolate milk studies of several years ago. Those studies generally found chocolate milk to be as good for recovery as specially-formulated sports drinks. Respected Boston runner and nutritionist Nancy Clark, R.D., says the new study doesn’t surprise her. “I haven’t yet seen a study where a commercial supplement outperforms real foods,” she notes. “The supplements may seem impressive because they offer a precise ratio of carbohydrates to protein, but you can get the same from tastier, less pricey real foods with adequate carbs, protein, and calories.” The Montana researchers concluded: “These data indicate that short-term food options to initiate glycogen resynthesis can include dietary options not typically marketed as sports nutrition products such as fast food menu items.” Table: When subjects glycogen-reloaded with equal calories and equivalent carb-protein ratios from fast foods and sports foods, their subsequent time-trial performance was virtually identical. The same held true for many blood measures, including glucose, insulin, and cholesterol. MORE: Why Runners Should Eat More Citrus The article “Fast Food May Help You Recover Similar to Sport Products” originally ran on RunnersWorld.com.
