When you reach the end of a long run or bike ride, it’s time to refuel your body. And you’ve got a veritable smorgasbord of readily available choices: Protein bars. Electrolyte drinks. Bananas. Pretzels.

And chocolate milk?

Yes: many endurance athletes rely on chocolate milk to help them recover—at a marathon, for example, you’ll often see it as one of the many post-race snacks available to runners. And experts say that there’s science to back that up.

“It’s not so much that it’s better than every other recovery drink. It’s just that every other recovery drink is not better than chocolate milk,” says Todd Miller, professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

The drink may be