The Great Chocolate Milk Debate

If the 1980s' campaign is to be believed, milk "does a body good." But what if that milk comes with a hefty dose of chocolate?

Pint-sized cartons of chocolate milk are creating a pretty huge controversy. According to a story in the New York Times, schools across the nation are considering banning flavored milks from lunch rooms. This year, Washington, D.C.'s cafeterias will only serve regular, low-fat milk to students. Schools in Berkeley, California also banned chocolate milk, and Florida school officials are considering eliminating the beverage, too, claiming that it contains way too much sugar.

Public health advocates applaud the chocolate milk bans, pointing to America's childhood obesity epidemic as a reason to cut back on kids' sugar intakes. But the bans beg a bigger question: If milk doesn't taste as sweet, will kids still drink it in school cafeterias?

Chocolate milk certainly does come packed with sweetness. The stuff contains more than twice the amount of sugar of regular milk (which is naturally sweet from lactose). In some cases, one little carton of chocolate milk holds more than five teaspoons of sugar.

But milk — regardless of whether it's sweetened or not — also comes loaded with important nutrients like calcium, protein, and vitamin D. According to the NYT, studies indicate that about 75 percent of teenagers and adults suffer from a lack of vitamin D. And sure, folks can get vitamin D, calcium, and protein from other foods, but giving kids a carton of milk is an easy way to pump them full of three beneficial nutrients.

And that's where something like a chocolate milk ban could be detrimental to kids' health. Many children are notoriously picky eaters, and parents often complain that regular milk isn't always a beverage of choice. In the case of chocolate milk, a little spoonful of sugar (or rather, five spoonfuls) makes the medicine go down. Take that chocolate-y goodness away and kids might not drink milk at all. Especially for children living in low-income areas or food deserts, that carton of sugary milk in the school cafeteria might be the only milk they get.

Still, we can't ignore the fact that as many as one-third of America's kids are overweight or obese. Trimming calories from foods and beverages like milk may be key to trimming waistlines. Flavored milk opponents also have a point when they argue that including sugary drinks with a "healthy meal" does little to teach kids about proper nutrition. "Saying we need to add sugar and flavoring to milk to get kids to drink it is like saying we need to feed kids apple pie if they don't like apples," Ann Cooper (a.k.a. "Chef Ann"), the head of Boulder, Colorado's school lunch program, told the NYT.

Like so many parents, school administrators, and even health experts, I'm admittedly on the fence about this issue. Yes, we need to break kids' addiction to foods high in sugar, fat, and calories. But if it comes down to chocolate milk or no milk at all, the protein, calcium, and vitamin D that milk provides might be worth the nutritional tradeoff of a little extra sugar.

So what do you think, readers? Should school cafeterias offer flavored milks to kids? Tell us in the poll above.

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