Coauthored by Kathryn Henderson, Ph.D., Director of School and Community Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University
As researchers and health professionals working with school districts and parents to support the development of healthful eating practices among children, we applaud nationwide efforts to improve school nutrition. These have included efforts to increase fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and decrease fat, saturated fat, and added sugar. One source of added sugar that is a staple in school cafeterias is flavored milk. Promoting only unflavored milk is an effective way to reduce the added sugar children consume at school.
First, let's recognize the chocolate milk controversy for what it really is about: marketing. In 2010, the dairy industry's national marketing group, the Milk Processor Education Program, launched a $1 million initiative to promote chocolate milk, especially in schools (where most flavored milk is sold). The dairy industry claims that children will not drink unflavored milk -- adding sugar to it is necessary to ensure adequate calcium intake. This is the same argument presented by the companies that sell high-sugar cereals. They claim that children will not eat low-sugar cereals and risk skipping breakfast altogether. Rudd Center research, published in the journal Pediatrics in December 2010, has demonstrated this is not the case.
Flavored milk is not the nutritional equivalent of unflavored milk. It is significantly higher in calories, sugar, and sodium, and usually contains artificial colors and flavors. There are 11 grams (nearly three teaspoons) of added sugar in one cup of flavored milk. Is that a lot or a little? Well, according to the USDA, we are allowed a limited number of discretionary calories per day, and within those calories, the American Heart Association recommends that no more than half be used for added sugar. If we do the math, a girl aged 9-13 is limited to 16.5 grams of sugar per day. If she spends 11 grams on milk at lunch, she has 5.5 grams left. That isn't enough for one whole grain chocolate chip cookie (14 grams of sugar) or a bowl of sugared cereal.
Do parents have any idea how much added sugar their children are consuming in the school lunch? Our view is that all food and beverages in schools should provide maximum nutrition with minimum discretionary calories. Parents can then trust that their children have been well nourished at school and can make decisions about what added sugar or treats to offer. This approach ensures that all parents' wishes are respected: those who wish to feed their children chocolate milk may do so and those who don't wish their children to have the extra sugar don't face unwanted exposure for their children.
It is probable that, immediately following removal of flavored milk from schools, children will drink less milk. Who really is surprised that, given the option, children prefer the taste of flavored milk to unflavored milk? Research with both animals and humans show that we all like the taste of sugar. However, examining what happens in the short-term when is inadequate; the relevant question is what happens in the long-term when children are only served unflavored milk.
National data suggest that only 14 percent of preschool-aged children drink flavored milk. In our research in Connecticut nearly all child care centers participating in the CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program) serve only low-fat unflavored milk, and the children drink it. Further, flavored milk is not permitted in any state as part of the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. When children are accustomed to drinking unflavored milk at home and in preschool, the most logical hypothesis is that they will continue to drink unflavored milk once they enter kindergarten, in the absence of a high sugar alternative. This is an important research question, but it will take time for researchers to answer it. In the meantime, there is no good reason to continue the practice of introducing flavored milk to children when they enter kindergarten.
Many may feel that flavored milk is being singled out in the debate over food/beverages served in schools. In fact, all over the country school districts have been revising their menus -- cutting out transfat, saturated fat and sugar in all its forms. Reducing sugar in school meals will help children avoid consuming excess discretionary calories, and flavored milk is one place to start. Unflavored milk is accepted by the majority of children prior to entry into the public school system and it should remain the norm for those children.
Marlene Schwartz, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University
and
Kathryn Henderson, Ph.D., Director of School and Community Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University
School Milk Facts - MilkDelivers
New Look of School Milk Program: Nutrition Explorations
The Unwise War Against Chocolate Milk
Then all the whiners who think their blob-in-the-making will be dreadfully deprived will be satisfied, and the rest of us can be comfortable with the fact our kids aren't being pumped full of sugar every single day.
Noone is taking their choice away completely - if their parents really want, they can bring chocolate "milk" from home and drink that. Currently, we bring home lunches to AVOID all the rubbish that is served....it shouldn't have to be this way. This is about corporations making deals for profit at the expense of OUR kids' health, and it makes me mad.
And I have had that problem since high school. So, that was another reason I made-and-packed my own lunches (complete with a Thermos jug full of chilled peppermint tea). The only dairy products I'll ingest are yogurt, cheese, ice cream (sparingly), and pudding.
As for banning chocolate milk in school?
Why not give the parents the choice to "opt out" of said ban? Or offer ice water with the kiddos' lunches in place of the "moo juice"? Some kids are lactose-intolerant. Soy milk snd rice milk might also be options here.
And before we start playing "lunchroom vigilantes" and enforce the inspection of lunches brought from home for the dreaded "Brown Bossie" (and confiscating any found)? That can be grounds for said school district to get hauled into civil court over illegal seach-and-seizure issues.
So many issues...perhaps there might be a better way than a blanket ban on "Choco-Cow Juice" in our schools?
--RKJ
Taking children's choices away rather than teaching them to make good choices for themselves will help them in the long term by _____
So...to answer your question - "Taking children's choices away rather than teaching them to make good choices for themselves will help them in the long term by" making money for the dairy industry by not allowing water (a healthier choice) to be offered on school lunch menus because your child's school will not be reimbursed their federal lunch money.
We all know the trick of give your child two choices when both are acceptable to you. How can our daughter make the right choice when water isn't even offered?
The USDA was created to subsidize farmers not build food pyramids.
Soda = candy in a can
Chocolate cows milk = candy in a carton
If you really believe that our children's choices are being diminished...the dairy industries campaign is working hook-line and sinker. Hmmm....and something smells fishy!
It went a long way in teaching me that there are 'sometimes' foods, things like ice cream, cookies, pizza, that taste great, but you can't eat them every day as part of a healthy diet.
National data suggest that only 14 percent of preschool-aged children drink flavored milk.
Who do I believe? NOT the dairy industry. Yes, I think flavored milk should be banned in schools.
I drink 2% milk all the time and I find it to be quite healthy. It's on the list of WH the world's healthiest foods. I don't have an issue with lactose intolerance as many do. My genetics come from Northern Europe, where they have been consuming milk for thousands of years. I also have cheddar cheese in my refrigerator- imagine that! It's made from milk. It may be an ethnic thing, but milk is good for me. I haven't eaten all day and some milk is about to enter my ~2000 calorie diet. 140 lbs and 5' 7" As a male that isn't that large.
If a school district does not wish to offer chocolate milk, fine.
The state and feds should keep out of it.
Likewise, schools shouldn't be policing kids' packed lunches to enforce their own concept of a good diet.
Check out this website:http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/educators/school-nutrition-lunch.asp
Now, check out this article...http://harvardmagazine.com/2007/05/modern-milk.html
Is one a thinly veiled infomercial selling the health benefits of their product to get consumers to buy... more of their product?
Plenty of qualified people who say milk is good for you and plenty who say it isn't. If you would like to believe that every person who says milk has some nutritional value works for the dairy industry, be my guest, but it is not supported by an accumulation of empirical evidence. Also, vegetarians have the same credibility as people who work in the dairy industry. They both have agendas. The agenda of the latter is obvious, but some vegetarians could care less about the health of humans. They don't really care if the lamb chops I eat are good for me. They care about the lamb.
I teach for a living. I see the effects of the garbage the district serves our youth. It is disgusting.
Flavored milk has more sweetener than soda. It is poison.
At what point did you think this was a good, nutritional choice? The word "chocolate" didn't tip you off. I hate to be rude, but, really?