High–profile guest speakers including Olympic gold medallist rower Anna Watkins, MBE shared their sports nutrition insights at the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland ‘Milk It’ seminar.
Anna, who hails from a dairy farming family, told the delegates how milk had played a big part in her training regime in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.
“We had a lot of dairy; milk and yogurt mainly, which are great sources of protein and other nutrition that we needed while training and competing, and to help us recover.”
Lead Nutritionist to the GB Rowing Team Wendy Martinson, OBE confirmed that dairy is an important part of an elite rower’s diet.
“We have been using milk with our athletes for years. There are lots of sound nutritional reasons why, including its protein, electrolyte and calcium content. Plus it tastes good!”
She added:
“In just three weeks during the training for London 2012, the 52 Team GB rowers went through 33kg yogurt and 500 milkshakes”
The capacity audience at the MAC in Belfast, which included sports nutrition professionals, coaches, PE teachers and nutrition students, heard that milk can be equally useful in other sports too. Kevin Tipton, Professor of Sport, Health and Exercise Science at the University of Stirling discussed the science that underpins recovery strategies after exercise including the potential role of milk.
The seminar was chaired by Dr Sharon Madigan, Head of Performance Nutrition at the Irish Institute of Sport and is part of the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland’s ‘Milk it for all it’s worth’ programme, which is designed to communicate to young people the importance of good nutrition for sport and a healthy, active lifestyle. This includes a programme for post primary schools delevoped and delivered by the Dairy Council’s Sport and Exercise nutritionist Stephanie Ingram.
Health and Nutrition Professionals can view the presentations here.
Pictured L to R: Dr Sharon Madigan, Anna Watkins MBE, Wendy Martinson OBE, Prof Kevin Tipton