Got milk? Researchers find that exercisers who drink milk after a resistance workout are more likely to gain muscle and lose fat.

For the study, a team at Canada’s McMaster University asked one group of women to drink a tall glass of nonfat milk immediately after doing a resistance workout and then another glass an hour later. A second group of women drank a look-a-like sugar-based energy drink after their strength-building workout.

Twelve weeks later, the milk drinkers showed better changes in body composition than the non-milk drinkers.  

“The women who drank milk gained barely any weight because what they gained in lean muscle they balanced out with a loss in fat,” said Stu Phillips, a professor of exercise science at McMaster, in a press release issued by the university. “Our data show that simple things like regular weightlifting exercise and milk consumption work to substantially improve women’s body composition and health.”

What gives milk drinkers an edge? Phillips speculates that the combination of calcium, high-quality protein and vitamin D may somehow increase fat burning.