From wine to ...

MILK!!

So for those of you who don't prefer to booze it up, check out this gem from the Los Angeles Times. I tell you, the AP wire lately has been a wealth of beverage-related information!

"One little milk study and everyone'’s having a cow.

For decades, biochemists and physiologists in the dog-eat-dog world of sports drink technology have struggled to find the perfect elixir -- the right balance of carbohydrates, electrolytes, protein and fluid to keep athletes in peak form after various types of exercise.

So it was big news when exercise kinesiology professor Joel Stager and co-workers at Indiana University in Bloomington declared they had stumbled upon the perfect drink for elite cyclists recovering their energy after strenuous exercise.

That beverage was chocolate milk.

In three trials administered at one-week intervals, nine male cyclists performed a strenuous workout then drank one of three drinks. One group got standard 2 percent chocolate milk, another drank fluid- and electrolyte-replenishing Gatorade and a third group Endurox R4, a specially formulated beverage with a "patented 4 to 1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein"’ and other ingredients aimed at replenishing muscle glycogen stores and helping rebuild muscle.

Then, after a rest period, the cyclists exercised again, this time to exhaustion. The study, published in the February issue of the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, and funded in part by the dairy industry, reported that cyclists who drank chocolate milk at the break were able to continue cycling about 50 percent longer than those who drank Endurox R4 and about equally as long as those who drank Gatorade."

Pass me the cow, baby!