Eating fast foods after an intense workout can be just as effective for recovery as sports supplements, according to a recent study.
Researchers at the University of Montana found that there was no significant difference in glycogen recovery when cyclists ate fast food after a workout versus when they ingested traditional sports supplements such as Gatorade, Powerade and Clif products.
"Our results show that eating fast food - in the right amounts - can provide the same potential for muscle glycogen as sports nutrition products that usually cost more," Brent Ruby, director of Montana Center for Work Physiology, said in a statement.
For the study, 11 male cyclists completed two experimental trials in randomized order. Each trial included a 90-minute glycogen-depletion ride followed by a four-hour recovery period. Immediately following each ride and again two hours later, researchers provided participants with either sports supplements or fast food, such as hamburgers, french fries and hash browns. Following a four-hour recovery period, participants completed a 12.4-mile (20-kilometer) time trial.
Researchers then analyzed muscle biopsies and blood samples taken in between the two rides and found no differences in blood glucose and insulin responses. Rates of glycogen recovery from the feedings also were not different between the diets.
Most importantly, there were no differences in time-trial performance between the two diets.
The findings are detailed in a paper titled "Post-exercise Glycogen Recovery and Exercise Performance is Not Significantly Different Between Fast Food and Sport Supplements."
