Background/Aims: Many researchers suggested that chocolate milk (CM) could help with post-exercise recovery of athletes. Meanwhile, soy milk (SM) was recommended as an alternative to CM for athletes who are vegetarian or lactose intolerant, since its carbohydrate (CHO) and protein (P) content are similar to those of CM. Thus, it might offer similar recovery benefits as CM. This study compared the effect of SM and CM consumption on blood lactate (BL) level, beep test score, and VO2max of football athletes. Methods: The research subjects comprised of twenty male football
athletes who were provided with the beverages (SM or CM) daily over a period of four weeks. The beverages were consumed at isovolumic amount (600 mL) and matched color. The profile of SM sample was as follows: 450 kcal, 50.4 g CHO, 19.2 g P, while CM had 480 kcal, 66 g CHO, 15 g P. The experiment was conducted with single-blind randomized design, which was conducted after evening exercises. The beep test was conducted and evaluated before and after each treatment. As for BL level assessment, it was conducted before and after beep test. Data were analyzed using Independent T-test/Mann-Whitney and Paired T-test/Wilcoxon. Results: The level of BL was reduced after treatment eventhough no significantly decreased (pSM = 0.111 PCM = 0.061). Moreover, there was no significant differences between groups (ΔBLSM: –2.18 ± 3.90 ΔBLCM: –2.90 ± 4.29; p = 0.699). The BTS and VO- 2max were significantly increased at the end of treatments (pSM = 0.007 PCM = 0.001), yet there were no significant differences between group (ΔBTSSM: 1.18 ± 1.07 ΔBTSCM = 1.53 ± 1.01; p = 0.462) (ΔVO2maxSM: 3.46 ± 3.12 ΔVO2maxCM = 4.48 ± 2.97; p = 0.426). Conclusions: The effectiveness of SM is similar to that of CM as a recovery beverage.