Sports Drink With Protein Performs Better

Can a sports drink improve your endurance and reduce muscle damage? A study published in the July, 2004 issue of "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise" found that Accelerade, a sports drink that combines carbohydrates plus protein, did just that.

What Sports Drinks Do

Sports drinks contain carbohydrates and electrolytes to replace lost body salt and to replenish muscle energy stores. For endurance activities such as walking, running, or cycling, the body burns through its available muscle energy stores in the first 45 minutes. A sports drink does several things - it replaces the water, sodium and potassium lost in sweat and it provides carbohydrates for ready energy so the muscles can continue to perform.

Carbs Plus Protein Better for Endurance

In the study, a sports drink that has a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio was compared to standard Gatorade sports drink. Cyclists did not know which beverage they were given. They rode a cycle to exhaustion, drinking every 15 minutes. Then 10-15 hours later they did it again. The cyclists who drank the Accelerade protein-carbohydrate drink rode 29% longer in their first session and 40% longer in their second session than those drinking the Gatorade carbohydrate drink.

Protein-Carbohydrate Drink Reduces Muscle Damage

The subjects were also tested for plasma CPK levels, which indicate the amount of muscle damage. Those who drank the Accelerade protein-carbohydrate drink had 83% lower CPK levels, showing less muscle damage. Muscle damage contributes to post-exercise muscle soreness, a major complaint of fitness enthusiasts.

Accelerade

Accelerade is available in powdered form to add to water and by the bottle. Compare Prices

Update: 2006 Study Disputes Findings

A study published in the August, 2006 "Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise" refuted a 2004 study published in the same journal. The new study found no advantage in adding protein to a sports drink taken during endurance exercise. They 2006 study used what the authors said was a more real-world endurance test of an 80-kilometer time trial, and also used a placebo drink that had neither carbs nor protein as a control.
Sports Drink with Protein Doesn't Increase Endurance

Sources

VAN ESSEN, MARTIN; GIBALA, MARTIN J. "Failure of Protein to Improve Time Trial Performance when Added to a Sports Drink" Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2006, 38:8.

SAUNDERS, MICHAEL J.; KANE, MARK D.; TODD, M. KENT. "Effects of a Carbohydrate-Protein Beverage on Cycling Endurance and Muscle Damage." Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, July 2004, 36:7.

Lewis G. Maharam, MD.FACSM (chair),Tamara Hew DPM, Arthur Siegel MD, Marv Adner, MD, Bruce Adams, MD and Pedro Pujol, MD, FACSM. "IMMDA’s Revised Fluid Recommendations for Runners and Walkers." IMMDA. 6 May 2006.