Does Drinking Chocolate Milk at Half-time Lead to Better Second Half Performance than Gatorade?

The purpose of this study was to determine if Nesquik Chocolate Milk or Glacier Freeze Gatorade, given in equal amounts of carbohydrates, would allow for maintenance or decreased performance time in a second bout of an obstacle course. This would simulate an athletic event with the recovery drink being consumed during a twenty minute half-time break. Seven healthy college-aged women completed an obstacle course containing 10 high intensity exercises that took a total of 10-15 minutes to complete. Completion time of the course was compared between a pre and post run to measure performance along with blood glucose and lactate levels. It was hypothesized that there would be no difference in the performance times when comparing chocolate milk and Gatorade, but both drinks would improve performance following ingestion at half-time. Results indicated that there was no statistical difference in performance times following ingestion of Gatorade or chocolate milk, but that both groups performed more quickly in the 2nd bout. The participants who consumed chocolate milk ran an average of 52.7 seconds faster during the second obstacle course run and the participants who drank Gatorade ran an average of 22.8 seconds faster. No adverse events were recorded following ingestion of either beverage. These findings suggest that both chocolate milk and Gatorade can be effective recovery drinks during a short half-time break