Schools around U.S. consider banning chocolate milk in schools
Chocolate milk, that sweet childhood pleasure, has become the center of an intense health debate. Some health experts believe it contributes to childhood obesity leading many school districts to place limits on its sale or ban it outright. But many doctors and nutritionists say leaving it off the menu deprives children of valuable nutrients they aren’t likely to make up elsewhere. Parents are left wondering whether it’s okay for their kids to drink it or not.
Milk consumption has plummeted from 25 to 20 gallons per year per person since 1990, even as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that most kids don’t get enough calcium and several other “shortfall” nutrients milk offers in abundance. Increasingly, children tend to drink the majority of their milk at school and increasingly, the majority of the milk they drink is flavored — more than 70 percent of it according to the Milk Processor Education Program, the dairy industry’s advocacy group.
ABC News
4/12/11
Magnolia Tribune
