Impact of cow’s milk intake on exercise performance and recovery of muscle function: a systematic review

Abstract

Dairy products are thought to improve recovery after both resistance and endurance exercises due to their nutritional proprieties. We systematically reviewed the effects of dairy product intake on exercise performance and recovery of muscle function in humans. A literature search was conducted in the MEDLINE (via PubMed) and Web of Science databases from their inception to 15th April 2018. The initial search retrieved 7708 articles, and a total of 11 studies were finally included after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the selected studies were conducted with cow’s milk. Whereas some studies found significant positive effect of cow’s milk on exercise performance and recovery of muscle function, others did not find any effect. These controversies could be due to the heterogeneity of cow’s milk ingestion (e.g., amount of cow’s milk, timing of consuming the cow’s milk), to the type of intervention, and to the large heterogeneity of outcomes measured. Limited studies exist examining the effects of cow’s milk consumption and its influence on exercise performance and recovery of muscle function, therefore further studies are needed to draw more definitive conclusions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12970-019-0288-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Can Milk Affect Recovery from Simulated Team-Sport Match Play?

“…It has also been reported that cow's milk has anti-oxidant properties that may reduce oxidative stress [14] and the consumption of carbohydrate-protein mixtures may reduce lipid peroxidation [15]. The lack of effect of milk on exercise recovery reported in a number of investigations may be due to aspects of experimental design such as beverage blinding, homogeneity of participants, or the amount or timing of the cow's milk intake [16]. To date, it is unknown whether the consumption of cow's milk can enhance recovery from repeated match play, or whether a positive effect on recovery markers can influence subsequent match performance.…”

The 4R’s Framework of Nutritional Strategies for Post-Exercise Recovery: A Review with Emphasis on New Generation of Carbohydrates

“…A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Rahimi et al (2018) concluded that HMB may be seen as a recovery agent following exercise-induced muscle damage [ 135 ], but more research on recovery from injury that includes periods of extreme inactivity is needed given it does not consistently increase strength and/or lean mass or reduce markers of muscle damage [ 136 ]. Finally, it has been recently reviewed systematically if other foods, such as Pomegranate [ 137 ], cow’s milk [ 138 ], or Chocolate milk [ 139 ], might potentially improve exercise-performance and post-exercise recovery but further research is needed to extract definitive conclusions.…”

The application of lactose in sports nutrition

“…Whilst no studies have investigated muscle or liver glycogen replenishment and/or recovery of exercise performance or capacity with lactose ingestion, milk and chocolate milk have been extensively studied in recovery from exercise (Alcantara, Sanchez-Delgado, Martinez-Tellez, Labayen, & Ruiz, 2019;Amiri, Ghiasvand, Kaviani, Forbes, & Salehi-Abargouei, 2018). Milk ingestion has been shown to be equally effective at improving exercise capacity after an initial bout of exercise as carbohydrate-electrolyte beverages delivering similar amounts of carbohydrate in a number of investigations (Lee et al, 2008;Watson, Love, Maughan, & Shirreffs, 2008).…”