Banning chocolate milk at school can backfire

[The Straight Story]

Results

Total daily milk sales declined by 9.9% (p<0.01). Although white milk increased by 161.2 cartons per day (p<0.001), 29.4% of this milk was thrown away. Eliminating chocolate milk was also associated with 6.8% fewer students eating school lunches, and although other factors were also involved, this is consistent with the notion of psychological reactance.

Conclusions

Removing chocolate milk from school cafeterias may reduce calorie and sugar consumption, but it may also lead students to take less milk overall, drink less (waste more) of the white milk they do take, and no longer purchase school lunch. Food service managers need to carefully weigh the costs and benefits of eliminating chocolate milk and should consider alternative options that make white milk more convenient, attractive, and normal to choose.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0091022

From:
Banning chocolate milk at school can backfire
http://holykaw.alltop.com/banning-chocolate-milk-at-school-can-backfire?tu2=1

[NuclearDem]

1. If we outlaw chocolate milk, only the outlaws will have milk chocolate.

[rainy]

2. Ban all milk, juice and sugary drinks

If they are thirsty they can drink water.

[Hip_Flask]

5. Not sure if serious....

[alp227]

14. First world problems eh?

Parents can pack their own sugary drinks if schools won't sell them. At the parents' own risk of course.

[Hip_Flask]

15. I'm sure we could whip out some multivitamin gruel...

.. And just go whole hog.

How utterly tedious and indicative of the mindset regarding teaching and students nowadays.

Bland, bare minimum and above all... Conforming

[alp227]

19. What? Offering healthy food is conformist,

as opposes to being the right thing to do?

I don't follow your logic.

[handmade34]

33. couldn't agree more...

no need for any of them...

and none of that wasteful bottled water... just good ole fashioned water... good hydration, quenches thirst and is healthy... we have been sold a very unhealthy bill of goods, thinking we need milk or juice

[PoliticAverse]

41. Serve them all Malk...

[JI7]

3. how about just water ?

[kimbutgar]

4. I work with a second grader and the only milk he drinks is chocolate

He is a little doughy guy and a fussy eater but I'd rather see him drink the milk rather than not eat his school lunch. Some days I'm begging him to eat something.

[giftedgirl77]

7. My 6 yr old nephew has a serious chocolate addiction,

at some times I believe an intervention may be in order . However, he only gets it in moderation, won't touch soda, doesn't like any candy other than chocolate & thinks he's a mix between Sonic & the Flash. I am a firm believer in moderation & activity.

[Hippo_Tron]

6. Can't someone just make chocolate milk that isn't loaded with tons of sugar?

We do things to healthy foods all the time to make them taste better that result in the addition of some calories, sugars, fats, etc. Nothing wrong with doing that, it's just about finding the right balance. A little cocoa and a little sweetener can make milk (especially skim milk) taste a whole lot better and get kids to drink it. And in general, that's probably a good tradeoff. But they don't need each carton of milk to be sweetened with the equivalent of 5 packets of sugar. That's just overdoing it.

[kimbutgar]

9. We have been reading the labels and at least the choc milk doesn't have high fructose corn sugar

Or bovine growth hormone.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. It's still 200 calories, which just isn't necessary

It's the same way that it's completely unnecessary for a Coke to have 240 calories, it's just excessively sweet. There's a soda brand called Grown Up Soda that makes sodas with 90-98 calories and they're delicious. No reason somebody couldn't make a lower calorie chocolate milk. No need to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[msanthrope]

20. it's totally necessary for my child, who does not eat lunch because the medication she is on kills

normal appetite.

[Hippo_Tron]

21. Okay, obviously there are people who need high calorie drinks for various reasons

I'm just saying, they should make a lower calorie alternative. Is that so much to ask?

[msanthrope]

22. Certainly not too much to ask. nt

[msanthrope]

24. You seem concerned. Please feel free to share more of your concerns, and enjoy your stay. nt

[yeoman6987]

29. If they aren't eating their lunch

Then they need to add the Chocolate back. Big deal 200 calories. Kids burn calories like crazy. I would say backfire indeed.

[Warpy]

8. It was the only milk I could choke down

and then it would give me cramping and diarrhea just like plain milk did.

I'd have had a lot less diarrhea if the school had banned it.

[RoverSuswade]

11. I learned to hate white milk at school

because it was out on a tray without any refrigeration and was always warm when you got to your seat - therefore it tasted like crap. That's why I always took chocolate when available.

[phleshdef]

12. Milk isn't good for you beyond infancy.

The oldest people in the world reside in a region of China where they have pretty much no dairy at all in their diet.

Myself, I might have ice cream once in a blue moon and a little bit of butter on some veggies, but in general, I hate dairy.

[Ed Suspicious]

13. You cannot assert that it simply isn't good for people beyond infancy. There certainly are health

benefits to be attained from including dairy in one's diet.

[Scootaloo]

28. Unless you're a member of a genetic group that is lactose-intolerant

...Which includes most people in the world, beyond Europeans, some Africans, and a handful of south Asian ethnic groups.

Not everyone can chug down cow milk like they're some sort of Swedish dairy farmer, you know.

[phleshdef]

36. I simply AM asserting it.

You can get all the vitamins dairy provides in much healthier ways.

Most dairy is just a bunch of fat.

Dairy consumption increases insulin resistance.

The healthiest populations are mostly populations that consume little to no dairy.

[NickB79]

39. "Most dairy is just a bunch of fat. "

And?

We've seen the results of the "low-fat diet" trend for 40 years, and it's been an abject failure.

So much so that Sweden is rejecting it altogether: http://healthimpactnews.com/2013/sweden-becomes-first-western-nation-to-reject-low-fat-diet-dogma-in-favor-of-low-carb-high-fat-nutrition/

[Ed Suspicious]

40. OK, but you can get vitamin from dairy. You're gonna have a hard time convincing this middle-aged

Wisconsinite that dairy is the devil. I'm not saying to consume mass quantities is the way to go, but a little aged cheese or greek yogurt go a long way toward my happiness, and I am quite sure I do derive some nutritional benefit from milk based products. You can live life without Ben and Jerry's if you want. I'm just not interested in that lifestyle.

[Shivering Jemmy]

27. Not true

If you are a Northern European, or are a member of another herding culture, you have co-evolved with cows to be able to digest milk efficiently into adulthood.

[handmade34]

30. ...

the dairy industry has done a very good job of convincing people though...

[Warpy]

32. I'm the same way, milk is horrible stuff

and I've been lactose intolerant since I was five. I can tolerate aged cheeses and yogurt and I've tried to teach myself to like them with varied success rates. I do like ice cream but I only get it when I'm constipated.

[newcriminal]

16. Chocolate vs.white

[link:|

[lunasun]

35. twice the sugar and 1/2 the fat?

worse than I thought........

[hedgehog]

38. I think you've presented the best post here -

but what are you thinking, introducing actual facts to an internet discussion!

Seriously, not every child can or should drink any milk, so water should be available (and please, not bottled water!) There also has to be some thought given to how to provide alternative sources for the nutrients milk provides.

For the kids who prefer chocolate milk to white milk, I don't see the harm.

[seveneyes]

26. Honey is for Bees. Eggs are for Chickens.

And both go well with a glass of chocolate milk.

[MFM008]

34. i used to love choco milk.

come on schools whats next making kids eat muddy leaves? Wash it down with monkey urine...lets not get crazy here......

[flvegan]

37. I don't see how. It's shit.

Nutritionally, environmentally, ethically. I'm at a loss.