The Response of Plasma Levels of Atrogin-1 and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 to Low-Fat Milk Consumption after One Session of High-Intensity Interval Exercise in Fasting State among Overweight Young Men

The aim of this study was assessing the response of plasma levels of atrogin-1 and insulin-like growth factor-1 to low-fat milk consumption after one session of high-intensity interval exercise in fasting state among overweight young men.
Ten overweight young men (mean age: 20.50 ± 1.71 years and body mass index: 28.08 ± 2.80 kg/m2) were randomly selected. They were participated in two exercise sessions of two non-consecutive days. The exercise program in each day included 4 sets of 30-second Wingate test with 4.5 minutes active rests between sets. The difference was that in the second session, immediately after exercise, participants drank 500 ml of low-fat milk. Blood samples were taken before exercise and 5, 90 and 180 minutes after it. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni test (P Findings: The plasma level of atrogin-1 was not significantly different after exercise in both sessions (P > 0.05). The plasma level of insulin-like growth factor-1 significantly reduced after 90 and 180 minutes post-exercise in the sessions without milk consumption (P = 0.04 and 0.02, respectively); while milk consumption caused no significant change in this variable after exercise by prevention of reducing in insulin-like growth factor-1 levels (P > 0.05).
It seems that consumption of low-fat milk, immediately after exercise in the fasting state, can help to maintain muscle mass by avoid reducing growth factors.