Posted on 05/26/2010 11:44:20 AM PDT by decimon
HAMILTON, CANADA – Women who drink two large glasses of milk a day after their weight-lifting routine gained more muscle and lost more fat compared to women who drank sugar-based energy drinks, a McMaster study has found.
The study appears in the June issue of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise.
"Resistance training is not a typical choice of exercise for women," says Stu Phillips, professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. "But the health benefits of resistance training are enormous: It boosts strength, bone, muscular and metabolic health in a way that other types of exercise cannot."
A previous study conducted by Phillips' lab showed that milk increased muscle mass and fat loss in men. This new study, says Phillips was more challenging because women not only steer clear of resistance training they also tend to steer away from dairy products based on the incorrect belief that dairy foods are fattening.
"We expected the gains in muscle mass to be greater, but the size of the fat loss surprised us," says Phillips. "We're still not sure what causes this but we're investigating that now. It could be the combination of calcium, high-quality protein, and vitamin D may be the key, and. conveniently, all of these nutrients are in milk.
Over a 12-week period, the study monitored young women who did not use resistance-training exercise. Every day, two hours before exercising, the women were required not to eat or drink anything except water. Immediately after their exercise routine, one group consumed 500ml of fat free white milk; the other group consumed a similar-looking but sugar-based energy drink. The same drinks were consumed by each group one hour after exercising.
The training consisted of three types of exercise: pushing (e.g. bench press, chest fly), pulling (e.g. seated lateral pull down, abdominal exercises without weights), and leg exercises (e.g. leg press, seated two-leg hamstring curl). Training was monitored daily one on one by personal trainers to ensure proper technique.
"The women who drank milk gained barely any weight because what they gained in lean muscle they balanced out with a loss in fat" said Phillips. "Our data show that simple things like regular weightlifting exercise and milk consumption work to substantially improve women's body composition and health." Phillips' lab is now following this study up with a large clinical weight loss trial in women.
###
Funding for the study was provided by McMaster University, CIHR, and the Dairy Farmers of Canada. McMaster University, one of four Canadian universities listed among the Top 100 universities in the world, is renowned for its innovation in both learning and discovery. It has a student population of 23,000, and more than 145,000 alumni in 128 countries.
Ping
Hummm, I just read that one glass of red wine a day does the same. I am going with the wine.
I stopped drinking milk and gained weight- I started drinking it again and lost weight and feel better
The could take a cue from the shampoo industry...
Directions: pour, drink, repeat.
Skim or 2%?
Skim. There is no reason that a person over 16 needs whole milk, unless you prefer the taste.
Wasn’t there a study that showed people who ate cereal at night before bed lost weight? maybe it was the milk in the cereal? Maybe it’s working out the gas all night? Who knew?
I thought the vitamins didn’t absorb as well.
Milk is one of those very well balanced foods as far as Carbs/Protein/Fat go.
I do Crossfit in addition to strength training and ALWAYS drink 12-16oz of whole milk after every workout. I started doing this after reading Read “Starting Strength” by Rippetoe and Kilgore. If you are not lactose intolerant it’s good nutrition. Much better than overprice synthesized crap.
My wife and boys drink tons of milk. My wife is much leaner and muscular than she was before increasing her milk intake post work out and my two boys (6 and 8) are far more fit than their friends on juice boxes and soda. All they drink is water, milk and fruit/veg smoothies. Soda are for “special occasions” only and very rare. Of course, we keep them VERY active as well.
Just my experience...
I LOVE the taste of the whole milk I get from a local farmer .. right out of the holding tank, which is about as close as being on the tit as you can get.
Even better if it’s raw milk, now that’s good stuff, anybody else taste it?
I drank a lot of milk when I was a kid and as a young adult, and still like it now, with my cereal in the morning and especially with my dark chocolate chip walnut cookies.
My dentist has told me I have some of the hardest teeth he’s ever seen, and my bone density is also very good for my age.
It's a good way to head for a stroke in ten years or so.
I drink a pure whey protein drink (milk protein) with 140 mg of calcium (no D that I see on the labeling) with low sugar (which isn't bad as a bit of sugar helps expedite absorption of protein and carbs in to the muscles. The quicker the protein absorption after reisistance training the more one builds (given one lifts enough to build muscles--most women do not as they are afraid of getting big muscles which is impossible without steroids)
I pulled this quote as they need to be specific about what they mean by an "energy drink". This could be anything! They also did not mention what fat level the milk had. This is interesting information but it looks like the details are lacking for thinking people that actually know exactly what and how much they put in their bodies. It is very general and needs more clear specifics.
By the way I lift heavy weights three times a week and am in my mid forties. People are shocked when they find I am above the age of 35-37. This is because of all the benefits from the hard core lifting and sustained cardo combined with good nutrition and calorie tracking.
Women do not realize in order to get real visible effects from resistance training they need to push it each new workout and go hard once a week.
“Hummm, I just read that one glass of red wine a day does the same. I am going with the wine.”
Think what two glasses of red wine would do. :)
excellent points. Thanks for sharing.
“Women do not realize in order to get real visible effects from resistance training they need to push it each new workout and go hard once a week.”
I’m 45 and the only way I look the way I do and have the strength that I do is proper “clean” nutrition, calorie tracking and hitting the iron VERY heavy at least one per week (old school HIT). The Crossfit keeps me very flexible in all functional movements and keeps my BMR high. My cardio capacity is better now than it was when I was 35.
“Go Heavy or go home” :)
Got nothing to do with bias. I get funding from many agencies and have for 25 years. With one exception, all accepted the study findings as is—they may not like the results, but the data stands as is, in all cases. The one exception involved lawyers for a CA-based chemical company—they didn’t like the results and wanted me to reinterpret them. Being a conservative, I refused and said there were no options, that the data spoke for itself. I assembled a paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, sent it to the funding agent for approval since one of their scientist was an author, and subsequently received a very threatening letter from their legal council not to publish or face lawsuit—the university hung me out to dry—end of story.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.