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Eating fast food after a workout may be just as beneficial as dietary supplements, a study has claimed, the Daily Mail reports.

Researchers found that during recovery periods between periods of exercise, it didn’t matter what food was eaten.

Performance remained the same after resting for several hours, while levels of glycogen - used by muscles as ‘fuel’ - were actually slightly higher after fast food was eaten as a recovery food.

The research, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, was led by University of Montana graduate student Michael Cramer.

In the study, 11 male athletes were asked to fast for 12 hours, before a 90-minute endurance workout.

After this, half were fed hot cakes, hash browns and orange juice, followed by a burger, fries and a Coke two hours later.

The other group were given Gatorade, organic peanut butter and Cliff Shot Bloks, followed two hours later by Cytomax powder and PowerBar products.

Two hours after the second meal, all participants were then ask to ride 12 miles (20km) on a stationary bike a fast as they good.

Each meal eaten by the participants was roughly equal in calories, carbohydrates and protein - although the fast food had more sodium and slightly more fat.

At various intervals, the researchers took muscule tissue samples and did blood tests, to check glycogen levels.

After a week, the participants returned and performed the task again, this time switching their diet to the one they didn’t do last time.

The results showed that, when performing the second exercise task, the times were about the same no matter which meal group the participants were in.

Also, levels of glycogen across the two groups were almost the same - with the fast food group being slightly higher.

No differences in insulin, glucose or cholesterol were found, while neither group reported any serious stomach discomfort.

‘These data indicate that short-term food options to initiate glycogen resynthesis can include dietary options not typically marketed as sports nutrition products such as fast food menu items,’ the researchers wrote.

However, the researchers said that the experiment included a fairly small sample, and the long-term effects on workout recovery of eating fast food over other, healthier sources of food are not known.