I want to believe that prone to ignorance, some of my
friends have stopped eating fast food but this article might be of great
benefit to those who have long left their favourite fast food for something
else. According to a report from dailymail.co.uk, eating fast food is not
actually an issue for those that eat fast food and exercise regularly.
Researchers found that during recovery periods between
periods of exercise, it didn’t matter what food was eaten.
Performance remained the same after resting for several
hours, while levels of glycogen - used by muscles as ‘fuel’ - were actually
slightly higher after fast food was eaten as a recovery food.
The research, published in the International Journal of
Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, was led by University of Montana
graduate student Michael Cramer.
In the study, 11 male athletes were asked to fast for 12
hours, before a 90-minute endurance workout.
After this, half were fed hot cakes, hash browns and orange
juice, followed by a burger, fries and a Coke two hours later.
The other group were given Gatorade, organic peanut butter
and Cliff Shot Bloks, followed two hours later by Cytomax powder and PowerBar
products.
Two hours after the second meal, all participants were then
ask to ride 12 miles (20km) on a stationary bike a fast as they good.
Each meal eaten by the participants was roughly equal in
calories, carbohydrates and protein - although the fast food had more sodium
and slightly more fat.
At various intervals, the researchers took muscule tissue
samples and did blood tests, to check glycogen levels.
After a week, the participants returned and performed the
task again, this time switching their diet to the one they didn’t do last time.
The results showed that, when performing the second exercise
task, the times were about the same no matter which meal group the participants
were in.
Also, levels of glycogen across the two groups were almost
the same - with the fast food group being slightly higher.
No differences in insulin, glucose or cholesterol were
found, while neither group reported any serious stomach discomfort.
‘These data indicate that short-term food options to
initiate glycogen resynthesis can include dietary options not typically
marketed as sports nutrition products such as fast food menu items,’ the
researchers wrote.
However, the researchers said that the experiment included a
fairly small sample, and the long-term effects on workout recovery of eating
fast food over other, healthier sources of food are not known.
