Not claiming this is gospel or anything, but maybe protein is more valuable than we thought.
EFFECTS OF A CARBOHYDRATE-PROTEIN BEVERAGE ON CYCLING ENDURANCE AND MUSCLE DAMAGE (for full study click here - PDF version)
SAUNDERS, M. J., M. D. KANE and M. K. TODD. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 36, No. 7, 2004.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to determine if endurance cycling performance and post-exercise muscle damage were altered when consuming a carbohydrate and protein beverage (CHO+P; 7.3% and 1.8% concentrations) versus a carbohydrate-only (CHO; 7.3%) beverage.
Methods: Fifteen male cyclists (mean VO2peak=52.6±10.3 ml·kg-1·min-1) rode a cycle ergometer at 75% VO2peak to volitional exhaustion, followed 12-15 hours later by a second ride to exhaustion at 85% VO2peak. Subjects consumed 1.8ml/kgBW of randomly assigned CHO (Gatorade®) or CHO+P (Accelerade®) beverage every 15 minutes of exercise, and 10 ml/kgBW immediately following exercise. Beverages were matched for carbohydrate content, resulting in 20% lower total caloric content per administration of CHO beverage. Subjects were blinded to treatment beverage and repeated the same protocol seven to 14 days later with the other beverage.
Results: In the first ride (75% VO2peak), subjects rode 29% longer (p<.05) when consuming the CHO+P beverage (106.3±45.2 min) than the CHO beverage (82.3±32.6 min). In the second ride (85% VO2peak), subjects performed 40% longer when consuming the CHO+P beverage (43.6±12.5 min) than when consuming the CHO beverage (31.2±8.7 min). Peak post-exercise plasma CPK levels, indicative of muscle damage, were 83% lower following the CHO+P trial (216.3±122.0 U/L) than the CHO trial (1318.1±1935.6 U/L). There were no significant differences in exercising levels of VO2, ventilation, heart rate, RPE, blood glucose or blood lactate between treatments in either trial.
Conclusion: A carbohydrate beverage with additional protein calories produced significant improvements in time to fatigue and reductions in muscle damage in endurance athletes. Further research is necessary to determine if these effects were the result of higher total caloric content of the CHO+P beverage, or due to specific protein-mediated mechanisms.
Just throwing it out there. I like accelerade, but I'm not trying to sell it to anyone else... But if you do buy it, go for the Orange. Lemon-Lime is a little nasty.
