Small Amounts Of Fast Food And Sports Supplements Have Simillar Effects, Post-Workout

A recent study found that fast food items, such as burgers and fries, can provide the same post-workout replenishing effects as sports supplements. The research published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, discovered that fast food and sports food can provide almost the same level of glycogen recovery to a group of athletes.

Brent Ruby, director of UM's Montana Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism, graduate student Michael Cramer and a team of researchers in UM's Department of Health and Human Performance conducted the study entitled, "Post-exercise Glycogen Recovery and Exercise Performance is Not Significantly Different Between Fast Food and Sport Supplements" by asking 11 male cyclist to perform two experimental tests in randomised order. Each test consisted of 90-minute bike ride, which depleted the participants’ glycogen stores. They were asked to rest for four hours thereafter. After each ride and two hours later, one group of participants were given sports supplements, such as Gatorade, Powerbar and Clif products; the other group were given hamburgers, fries and hash browns. The participants were able to complete a total of 20-kilometre time trial.

The research team obtained blood and muscle biopsy samples in between the two rides and analysed the blood glucose and insulin responses. It was found that the glycogen recovery rate from the food items given did not show any significant difference. Furthermore, the performance of the cyclist in the time-trial testing were relatively the same.

"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," Ruby said. However, he emphasised the the amount of fast food fed to the cyclist were very minimal, in contrast to what online publications stated in their websites. Ruby claims that some online portals have been reporting inaccurate details of their research. "A lot of the articles out there are totally misrepresenting the study," he said. "We had participants eating small servings of the fast-food products, not giant orders of burgers and fries. Moderation is the key to the results we got."

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