Muscle Milk, Research Paper Example

Every athlete finds recovery as the most difficult aspect of a training or exercise regime. As such, coaches recommend the use of supplements to help quick recovery from strenuous and intensive workouts. One such supplement is Muscle Milk.

Muscle Milk is a product under the Cytosport family of brands that is aimed at helping athletes across all ages to achieve full potential; by helping them to recover, restore and rebuild their bodies after intense workouts.

The muscle milk powder is potent with protein that is required for the quick recovery of energy required for consecutive workouts. The directions for Intake and use:

• One mixes one scoop of Muscle Milk, i.e. 35g, into 5 to 6 ounces of water
• Alternatively, in the case of an intensive work out, one can mix two scoops of MuscleMilk, i.e.70 g into 10 to 12 ounces of water
• Muscle Milk use is diverse and can be taken either before or after workouts or even before going to sleep at night.(Cytosport.com)
• The amount of Muscle Milk that one is required to use depends largely on the body weight, gender, intensity of training and the level of activity that the individual is participating in.
• Muscle Milk is not a replacement to a healthy food diet that is required for optimal physical performance. On the contrary, it is meant to supplement a healthy eating regime. When it is used together with an optimal physical training regime, it helps the user realize good weight management and quick recovery from physical exercise.
• The optimal use of Muscle Milk is when 1 to 3 servings are used in a day under a balanced diet that is comprised of mainly proteins and whole foods(Cytosport.com). It is not meant to be used as the exclusive nutritional source.

The Pros of Muscle Milk

This product is associated with many advantages to the athlete using it. It has two main advantages as compared to other products similar to it in the market:

Builds Muscle: Owing to the fact that it is a protein drink, it enables the user to quickly build muscle while shortening the time span for the recovery cycle

Fat Content: though the fat content may appear to be too high at first, these fats are the healthy or good fats that one needs to store energy in the body. This helps in the recovery cycle as the stored fats are used to shorten this process for optimal muscle gain.

The Cons of Muscle Milk

There is one major flaw with this product, the amount of protein is not sufficient for developed and experienced sportsmen. The protein content is best suited for beginner sports people. It is goo beginner protein product as it contains insufficient protein and high calories.

Warnings and Controversies

The muscle milk products contain soy and ilk derived ingredients. The product is processed in a manufacturing facility that processes eggs, soy, wheat and milk. As such great care should be taken when individual is lactose intolerant or is allergic to soy and/or wheat products

The Muscle Milk product brand was in June 2010 found to contain exceeding levels of metals, way above the approved USP (United States Paharcopeia). The chocolate powder health drinks in particular had 4 heavy metals and of the four, three of them were the highest levels as compared to all other health drinks that were tested in the study.

Works Cited

Cytosport.com. Cytosport. 01 March 2013. Internet Source. 18 November 2013. <http://www.cytosport.com/>.

MuscleMilk.com. Muscle Milk. 01 April 2013. Internet Source. 18 November 2013. <http://www.musclemilk.com/products/>.