Posted on 05/09/2011 7:22:38 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
With schools under increasing pressure to offer healthier food, the staple on children's cafeteria trays has come under attack over the very ingredient that made it so popular — sugar.
Some school districts have gone as far as prohibiting flavored milk, and Florida considered a statewide ban in schools. Other districts have sought a middle ground by replacing flavored milks containing high-fructose corn syrup with versions containing sugar, which some see as a more natural sweetener.
Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest school district, is the latest district to tackle the issue. Superintendent John Deasy recently announced he would push this summer to remove chocolate and strawberry milk from school menus.
But nutritionists — and parents — are split over whether bans make sense, especially when about 70 percent of milk consumed in schools is flavored, mostly chocolate, according to the industry-backed Milk Processors Education Program.
Many, including the School Nutrition Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, and National Medical Association, argue that the nutritional value of flavored low-fat or skim milk outweighs the harm of added sugar. Milk contains nine essential nutrients including calcium, vitamin D and protein.
A joint statement from those groups points to studies that show kids who drink fat-free, flavored milk meet more of their nutrient needs and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers.
"Chocolate milk has been unfairly pegged as one of the causes of obesity," said Julie Buric, vice president of marketing for the Milk Processors Education Program.
Others note the nation's child obesity epidemic and say flavored milk simply needs to go.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.yahoo.com ...
Nanny State PING!
Big brother at work
Chocolate milk is a part of childhood. You remove it over my dead body.
Why are schools even providing milk — of any flavor? Go back to individual responsibility and parents providing food and drinks for their kids. Schools have no business being in the business of feeding kids - breakfast and lunch and in some cases more than that.
California. ‘nuff said.
It’s not the chocolate milk — it’s the lack of exercise. Sugar in and of itself DOES NOT make you fat.
Why do this?
Chocolate Milk.
Just another high priority, acheivable goal for the Educator Bureaucracy.
In other news, 47% of Detroiters are illiterate.
Well, the liberal view is that, since so many children are “poor”, they must be fed at school, because their parents are not able to provide basic foods for them.
Now, I know this ignores the fact that these parents on public assistance are getting the food stamp ATM type card to buy food. The liberal view of an issue doesn’t always quite make sense. But, as in this case, the liberal view becomes our official social policy on the issue.
The point is...you want these kids to be drinking milk...and it fills them up, it's good for their bones...and better than soda...or water.
>>> Schools may ban chocolate milk over added sugar
The only solution is to put the Wookie between the chocolate milk and school officials then.
The industry argument of (milk vs flavored milk) is a false dichotomy, the real choice is (milk vs non-milk drinks) if flavored milk is banned from schools it will lose it’s taste in the next generation of children.
In Mexico, flavored milk drinks have much higher levels of sugar than in the United States, worse yet, Disney Corporation franchises their characters to Coca Cola distributorships, these flavored milk distribution channels south of the border are using Disney characters to promote that crap. Coca Cola has a south of the border label called Minute Maid Nutri+ which is just a horrible product to feed children,
I’m certain Coca Cola will be lobbying to lower the FDA guidelines for school served milk in the future to sell the equivalent of Minute Maid Nutri+ in the United States.
Let’s take the joy out of living. Too much enjoyment of life may make you forgo voting Democrat. Can’t have that.
Plus if the kids get 2 or 3 meals at school and a backpack of food for the weekend (which really fries me), it frees up the parent(s) to buy steak and nice things that other people can’t afford these days. Would hate to deprive them. And then there are the WIC shoppers who buy 4+ gallons of milk at once, yeah, like that’s gonna be consumed in YOUR household only? Seriously doubt it.
Most children should not be given low fat milk, IMO.
Childrens' developing brains need more fats to develop properly.
The problem with most chocolate milk that is served in schools, IMO, is not the sugar content -- instead, it's the fact that the wholesome milk fat has been removed, and replaced with cheap palm or coconut oil. Neither of those fats is good for children or adults.
This one actually is racist,
every study on the matter shows Hispanic kids have a much higher craving for immediate satisfaction in their foods, the Milk industry wants to make sure they don’t lose customers as more of the youth population becomes Hispanic with each passing school year...
I only know about this due to having a customer who imports specialty items from South America for the immigrant population here in NJ, one of her big items is this Peruvian/Colombian flavored milk drink (with unlicensed US copyrighted cartoon characters to boot!) that all the parents grew up with in Peru/Colombia, and so buy it for their kids here in NJ... I tasted it, some of the sugariest drink I’ve ever had.
Coca Cola Mexico introduced a similar drink in Mexico, but didn’t pick up sales until they licensed the Disney characters in 2005...
Maybe they need to ban video games.
Do you have links for the replacement of fat ?
I suggest you might be mistaken...
Chocolate milk is a part of childhood. You remove it over my dead body.
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