Nutrition advice, especially if it’s surprising or counterintuitive, should always be taken with a grain of salt (maybe use the kind with iodine? you make the call). I mean, who among us decided to embark on a diet of mainly twinkies after seeing this post online? I’m hoping no hands are raised out there…
Earlier this year, there was a flurry of posts about a new-new study, done by HARVARD and THE MAYO CLINIC (so it has to be legit, right?) showing that “a Dairy Queen Blizzard eaten after training raises muscle protein synthesis 43% more than the classic chicken breast and rice.”
For those of you unfamiliar with DQ’s menu offerings, here’s what they’re talking about:
Huh. You might think this is a funny internet jokey thing. However, the Iron Ladies’ post provided supporting details:
Key findings:
- A medium Oreo Blizzard straight after the session produced a 43% higher MPS reading at the 3-hour mark than a 40g protein chicken and rice meal
- The proposed mechanism: a large insulin spike from the sugar, a casein and whey dairy blend, and fats from the mix-ins, described in the paper as “anabolic napalm”
- Participants who stirred in extra cookie pieces and ate it from the cup while still sweaty reached +51%, which the authors call the “primal Blizzard ritual” effect
- Chicken and rice group: a respectable early bump, then a flat line after 90 minutes.
- Lab quote: “The Blizzard delivers fast carbs for glycogen, dairy protein for sustained release, and enough joy to flatten cortisol. Chicken and rice is what you eat when you have made peace with sadness.”
After reading more, I’m even more convinced that this is an internet jokey thing. Why? Well, I’ve never read a phrase in a scientific paper like “anabolic napalm”. Also, the last quote is too funny. Scientists aren’t trained to be funny.
Turns out,
- THIS IS, IN FACT, AN INTERNET JOKEY THING.
- THERE IS NO SUCH STUDY.
- SOMEONE MADE IT UP AND POSTED IT ONLINE.
I’m shocked.
Here’s the thing about nutrition and fitness: human metabolism is complicated, food is complicated, and measuring effects of food on human metabolism is double-complicated and super-contextual. It turns out that, under constrained circumstances (e.g. lacking better options), eating say, a pop tart or sugary cereal with milk after a heavy workout may provide some muscle recovery needs. Are there foods that better support recovery and overall nutritional needs? Of course there are, and we have loads and loads of studies to show which ones, what macro- and micronutrients to look for, etc.
One so-called junky food that has been shown to have post-workout beneficial effects is chocolate milk. In this PubMed meta-analysis from 2018, scientists looked at 12 studies comparing chocolate milk with sports drinks on its effects on various post-recovery biomarkers. They concluded:
CM [chocolate milk– they can’t even bring themselves to write it out in full] provides either similar or superior results when compared to placebo or other recovery drinks. Overall, the evidence is limited and high-quality clinical trials with more well-controlled methodology and larger sample sizes are warranted.
Okay, this is half-hearted and mild advice. But I’m going with it. What do you think?
Take-home messages:
- Nutrition is complicated.
- But, don’t trust messaging that relies on non-existent studies.
- Still, sometimes results come out that are counterintuitive.
- Which brings us back to: nutrition is complicated.
- Have a nice day.
