I’m Not Raising My Hand for Chocolate Milk
This LA Times article describes what happens when your kids are raised to prefer sweetened foods.
Reporting from Chicago – The dairy industry recently rolled out an expensive media campaign in praise of chocolate milk, a classic school lunch drink that’s under assault for its sugar content. As trade groups spend upward of $1 million to defend the drink, three fifth-graders have come to its rescue.
A year after the school district in Barrington, Ill., banned flavored milk from its elementary- and middle-school lunch menus, students persuaded administrators to give it another chance.
“Kids weren’t drinking the white milk,” said Haley Morris, 10. “It’s better to have the chocolate milk than nothing.”
…National health organizations agree that milk, whatever its flavor, has benefits for young bodies. Bone density peaks during adolescence, and calcium is vital to bone strength. Milk offers calcium, Vitamin D and a host of other nutrients. Children need about 32 ounces of milk daily just to get the recommended allotment of Vitamin D, Greer said.
Milk processors argue that children might not receive those benefits if chocolate milk is taken away. “There is a huge concern that if kids don’t care for [the taste of plain milk], they won’t actually drink it,” said Vivien Godfrey, the milk trade group’s chief executive.
If they won’t drink even a neutral-tasting beverage like milk without added sugar, there’s a problem.
According to the article, it’s a dilemma for the schools, as the kids are shunning plain milk in favor of juice and Gatorade brought from home. But rather than devote resources to solving the problem (such as working with parents to limit these drinks at home and doing more intensive nutrition instruction), the pressure’s on for administrators to grab their ankles.
And the industry’s “milking” the situation for all it’s worth, with its new “Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk” campaign.
Well, I’m a mother too! And – yes – my kids liked chocolate milk… but they had no problem with drinking the regular stuff, either. They weren’t so addicted to sweet drinks (or sweets in general) that this sort of thing ever became an issue. If it had, then there would have been some serious changes at Chez Lowe.
That’s what a parent is SUPPOSED to do – not shrug his/her shoulders and stock up on Nesquik. There are also other ways to provide calcium and vitamin D, so it’s not like parents are forced to make a choice between chocolate milk and nothing.
Obesity is at an all-time high… and the above is just one more example of how we’re handicapping the next generation. I see the results on the forums I mod - even people who weren’t fat as kids (thanks to sports and other physical activity) often end up being overweight/obese adults, thanks to the food habits formed in childhood. Helping people learn to break the hold that sugar has on their psyches is no easy task.
Needless to state, it’s time for administrators and parents to grow some spines, and throttle some of the sugar back.
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Makster on 22 Nov 2009 at 11:38 am #
I think that chocolate milk is better than Gatorade or soda pop or sugar filled juice drinks, but that dose’nt mean it this best thing to drink.
You are correct with the observation that this should start at home with good parental guideance. The problem is most times the parents are just as bad as the children.
When I was a kid, there was very seldom pop or other sugary drinks in the house. When I wanted a drink I had either white milk or water, those were the choices offered by my mother. If I did’nt want those I went without.
Today is so different. My nephew has three children. In his fridge is soda pop, juice boxes, and Gatorade. Not even a hint of milk, white or chocolate.
It’s a sad thing. It’s also sad when the milk producers hire all these “experts” to jump on the chocolate milk bandwagon. Just to promote their product, not really caring about the children.
Like anything, good nutrtional habits start at home. Scary is’nt it!!!!
Elissa on 22 Nov 2009 at 8:22 pm #
For the record, I don’t think of chocolate milk as “bad”, per se… and yes, it certainly is better than many other choices.
The deal is, nothing is really “bad”, when looked at in isolation. As noted in the discussion about cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory: there’s nothing wrong with the occasional indulgence.
But it’s problematic when you look at these things from a “big picture” perspective. If a kid arbitrarily skips drinking something because it isn’t sweetened, a line has definitely been crossed. And once these habits are carried over into adulthood, the consequences can be enormous (pun intended).
One of my best friends is a perfect example of the phenomenon. When we were kids, Linda was always one of those girls who never seemed to put on weight, despite what she ate (fast food, convenience food, sodas, etc.). She even used to tease me for eating slowly, and – as a teenager – for “always” being on a diet (this wasn’t strictly true in an absolute sense, but relative to her, it was, since she NEVER dieted).
That changed – big time – in adulthood. We were the same height (a skosh under 5′ 4″), but as teens, she weighed maybe 105 lbs. to my 115 – 118. But she wore a size 9 dress on her wedding day (compared to my size 5). And two pregnancies later, she outweighed me by a good 70 pounds. Among other things, she was a soda junkie, and admitted that she “couldn’t” drink water – too plain.
Last time we exchanged messages, she lamented that she’d probably never see 180 pounds again.
So chocolate milk itself? to reiterate – it’s not “bad”. But the fact that the kids have to have sweetened milk to drink it at all, IS disturbing – and could turn out to be bad, as the habit becomes entrenched.
Makster on 23 Nov 2009 at 10:07 am #
Very true. Bad childhood habits can become impossible to break.
All parents should understand that!!!
Elissa on 23 Nov 2009 at 6:07 pm #
Childhood habits and tastes get “locked in” pretty readily. I’m reminded of this everytime I see one of those “I hate veggies – what can I do?” queries on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum. These are the people who – as kids – saw “veggies” only in the form of some plain, overcooked, grey-green glop congealing on the sides of their plates. So – as adults – all they know is that they “hate” veggies… and it takes some work to convince them to give the green stuff another chance.
Paul on 25 Nov 2009 at 10:48 pm #
Just for the record, the Dairy industry is doing the same thing in Canada – often using “credible professionals” to add authenticity to their claims and recommendations.
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff has a great post about this here!
Well worth the read!
Elissa on 26 Nov 2009 at 5:47 pm #
LOL – well, it depends on how you define “credible,” doesn’t it? I did plenty of time in academia, for example, and know that possession of a degree – even the most advanced – is no guarantee of common sense or wisdom. The brains of some Ph.D.’s are like Hollywood sets: pretty to look at from the outside, but lacking in any depth or substance.
I cannot fault the industry per se, for wanting to promote their products. That’s what industry trade groups are all about, after all. And this isn’t a difficult thing for some professionals to rationalize: after all, chocolate milk IS better than soda, juice drinks and/or Gatorade. And – while they’re professionals – they’re also human beings… and as the popularity of reality TV shows proves, human beings like a) money; and b) standing in front of TV cameras.
So this is why I framed my argument the way I did. It’s not about the merits/demerits of any one food…there are certainly some pluses to chocolate milk, after all. It’s about the larger pattern of taste preferences that the food contributes to. There’s a difference between liking chocolate milk… and liking it so much, that you can’t/won’t drink plain milk at all, and will substitute other (worse) sweetened drinks for it.
So the “credible professionals” here have talked themselves into taking the short view. But it’s really a sort of “appeasement” strategy that fails to address the long-term problem.