Check out this article Advanced Training Nutrition:Why Are You Still Drinking Gatorade? by Dr John Berardi, CSCS at:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1173228
Here is part of it:
“Unbelievable, especially considering the huge body of literature demonstrating the benefit of drinking something during training. Now, add some carbohydrate to that something and athletes can expect to see:
• Improved aerobic and anaerobic endurance during training, practices, and games
• Decreased stress response to training, practices and games
• Improved immune function post training and competition
• Decreased acute phase inflammatory damage after training, practices, and games
• Improved whole body rehydration
• Improved muscle and liver glycogen resythesis
That's a pretty impressive laundry list of benefits, isn't it? We're now talking athletes who have better staying power, better hydration, less likelihood of overtraining, fewer colds, and more overall energy.
However, while carb drinks during and after training are good — athletes shouldn't be stopping with carbs — they should be adding protein. Oh, I know, I know. Gatorade and Powerade have convinced you that carbs alone are the way to go. They've also told ya that the extra protein is either useless or will build bulky muscles.
Well, frankly, that's nonsense.
What you're witnessing are the attempts of companies selling carb-only drinks to justify their existence. The longer they keep the wool over your eyes, the more profits they can make from inferior carb-only drinks before their product becomes obsolete.
After all, the writing is on the wall. Enlightened athletes are starting to realize that if they want to really supercharge their nutrition and recovery, they need to go to the next step. And the next step is using targeted workout and post workout recovery drinks that include both carbohydrate and protein.
Why protein? Well check out this list of benefits:
• Increased muscle protein synthesis
• Better and faster recovery from endurance, strength, and interval training
• Reduced muscle soreness and perception of fatigue
• Decreased muscle protein breakdown
• Further enhanced glycogen resynthesis vs carbohydrate alone
• Further enhanced immune function vs carbohydrate alone
• Increased use of fat for energy at rest, as well as during training and competition
Now, at this point, we're talking about athletes with more muscle strength, less body fat, an even stronger immune system, and the ability to train at higher intensities, more frequently.”