As the parent of an elementary school student, I am concerned with the added sugar in chocolate milk. Shouldn't schools only serve plain milk?
A: Our children today are in a calcium crisis. Currently, more than half of children ages 2–8 and three quarters of children ages 9-19 do not get the recommended daily servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy foods (1). Flavored milk delivers the nutrition children need, the same nine essential vitamins and minerals as in plain milk, including calcium, potassium, phosphorous, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin and niacin. The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses flavored milk because they recognize the nutritional value of dairy is important to a child’s overall health and growth. In fact, the sugar in a glass of flavored milk is no greater than the sugar found in a glass of juice.
The bottom line is that children need the nine essential vitamins and minerals found in milk. Flavoring milk is a good way to make milk a more appealing and tasty choice for children. So let them drink up!
1.National Dairy Council, unpublished data based on the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002.
Linda Silverman, MS, RD, LD - Georgia
<< previous page
|
