Chocolate Milk Daily? Let's rethink...

Is Chocolate Milk REALLY ok for our kids to be drinking daily?

In 2012, the National School Lunch Program received a huge overhaul and those changes are now appearing in our lunchrooms. There were some great improvements which came from it such as requiring that both fruits and vegetables are now being offered daily and efforts to reduce transfats are also being made.

However, there are still some improvements that should be made which were left out. Whole milk has been eliminated and only fat-free or low fat milk varieties are being offered. Because the satiating ‘whole fat’ has been removed from these milks it makes drinking it unpleasant. Thus, SUGAR is often added to help the kids drink it. We are seeing chocolate, strawberry and even vanilla milks offered in schools today. The USDA believes that adding sugar is ‘worth it’ if it will help kids drink their milk on a daily basis for calcium and chocolate milk has become the number one beverage served in the federal lunch program. This is unfortunate as eight ounces of chocolate milk has 27 grams of sugar where as whole milk has 12g of sugar and some good fat to hold our appetites better. Interesting enough (and I am no soda advocate), eight oz of coca-cola has 18 grams of sugar-LESS than a chocolate milk. Our bodies only need around 35 grams of sugar each day to function…one chocolate milk fills that requirement and leaves no room for what we consume the rest of the day. I won’t even go into dental hygiene but increased cavities is another element to consider.

Sugar sweetened beverages (this includes chocolate milk) have been linked to 183,000 deaths by increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Not to mention they’ve also been implicated in the childhood (and adult) obesity epidemic. Dr. David Ludwig, director of the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, in a JAMA Pediatrics editorial states: “The substitution of sweetened reduced-fat milk for unsweetened whole milk – which lowers saturated fat by 3 g but increases sugar by 13 g per cup – clearly undermines diet quality, especially in a population with excessive sugar consumption.”

Sugared beverages also come into play for refueling after sports which is another unfortunate act. Eight oz of gatorade has 14g of sugar, but most drink from a 16 oz bottle. Thus, whether if comes from chocolate milk or an electrolyte drink the child is getting 30 grams of sugar-again in one sitting! Honestly, most kids don’t deplete their energy stores like a ‘Michael Phelps’ would. Unless they are playing/training/exercising for over an hour they don’t need to refuel with chocolate milk or any electrolyte beverage. When active for over an hour, that is when we need to look at refueling options but most kids aren’t in that environment. Most kids would be better off with a post game snack of a banana, string cheese and water!

Written by Laura Peters, Trumi Training Stillwater www.trumi.com