Why not opt for a hamburger and soda after a ride? – By Amby Burfoot

A study in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism has found that fast food from McDonald’s is just as good for glycogen resynthesis (i.e. recovery) and subsequent performance as sport foods recommended for this use. The research team measured a large number of variables related to recovery—from blood cholesterol to thigh-muscle glycogen content to time-trial performance—and couldn’t find any significant differences between the two refueling approaches.

How the study was done

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. 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 randomised 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.

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,” says researcher Brent Ruby, Ph.D. “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. People 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.”

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 fast-food 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 [from the study] indicate that short-term food options to initiate glycogen resynthesis can include dietary options not typically marketed as sports nutrition products such as certain fast food menu items.”

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