Sure it works, if you’re a twentysomething weight-training guy…

Just what we need, on top of all the promotional hoopla from the milk industry about milk helping weight loss: Milk apparently aids in fat-burning and muscle-building.

But Wait, There’s More.

The researchers took three groups of young men 18 to 30 years of age – 56 in total – and put them through a rigorous, five-day-per-week weightlifting program over a 12-week period.

Got that? Men, eighteen to thirty. Right at the age that testosterone in men is the highest it will ever be again. From this study, they drew the following conclusion:

“…To my mind – with milk being a source of nine essential nutrients – it’s a no brainer: milk is the ideal post-workout drink for recreational exercisers and athletes alike.”

So we have taken a study conducted on testosterone-pumpin’ and rigorously-weight-training YOUNG MEN and extrapolated it to fortysomething-year-old overweight women who walk for fun? Well. Isn’t that special.

I could go into a rant here about how screwed up it is that we now know that medical science is flawed because it takes findings on twentysomething white men and applies them to the entire human population, which (for instance) is why women’s heart attack symptoms are still not taken seriously, among other serious problems in medicine… but I won’t. I will, however, point out a few home truths:

1. Cow’s milk is adapted to develop a solid, muscular body. Look at how calves turn out. Of course it is going to encourage muscle buildup in athletes. This would be why so many weight-trainers use whey protein on a regular basis. We needed a study to point this out?
2. I am completely not surprised soy didn’t help the study participants lose fat or gain muscle. Soy is a phytoestrogen, and estrogen can affect fat-burning ability, especially in men. Additionally, soy depresses thyroid function, which also slows the metabolism.
3. The carbohydrate drink didn’t do anything? Well. Then obviously it’s not the lactose in the milk which aids in fat-burning and muscle-building. Yet another torpedo to the idea that you have to load up on carbs before a workout in order to get anything out of it.

The point of interest here to low-carbers, of course–and any of you who’ve done any LCing at all should know this–is that milk is a relatively high-carb drink. As such it is unacceptable to individuals facing hyperinsulinemia (too much insulin in the blood) and insulin resistance, except in very small doses on rare occasion.

However, retaining muscle mass is something of a concern to low-carbers, since so many of us lose weight so quickly. Weight-trainers have touted the virtues of whey protein for years now. Also, it is possible to obtain whey protein both in unsweetened form and sweetened with stevia or sucralose. As such, whey protein powder can be a useful supplement to low-carbers doing anaerobic exercise, especially weight-training, with the aim of preserving and building muscle tissue.

As with any processed food or supplement, of course, monitor your body’s reaction–and don’t assume you’ll get maximum benefit from this just because a bunch of college guys did. If researchers aren’t going to get past their sexism of assuming that the twenty-five-year-old male is the default for all of humanity, we must exercise discernment ourselves and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

By the way, whey protein also makes a great low-carb baking ingredient. Just ask Dana Carpender.

But leave the milk in the dairy case. Unless you’re a twentysomething guy with a metabolism like a furnace.