Chocolate milk for lunch?

I don't always take my son's word for it.  He is, after all, 5 and 1/2.  So today was his (our!) very first day of kindergarten.  We sent lunch, but didn't know about snack.  Among the many things he did... and didn't... report out at the end of the big day was that there was chocolate milk available.  Like, you're kidding, right?  And he may be.  And I intend to find out. 

First day and I'm already riled up (surprise!).  Geez.  So is this true, or is he just razzing me...because by now I'm sure he knows how.  I've long wondered about the philosophy behind chocolate milk.  About cow's milk in general, actually, but that's a whole other ball of wax.  Does your school serve chocolate milk?  What gives?

Comments

[lauralye]

Unless you are lactose intolerant, chocolate milk has much more to offer nutritionally than juice. Chocolate milk in lunches, as mentioned, has been around since at least the 70s. I would prefer organic, but that is a whole other argument.

Milk, in any form, offers high protein, vitamin d, calcium, and doesn't the chocolate add a trace of iron?

[lorit]

I have a friend who is a nutritionist that says it can be a much better choice than juice or many of the other high sugar beverages that are options in school. For some children who have issues with eating, it can be a source of protein and vitamins that are beneficial. Food can be a real trial in some kids' lives. I applaud your efforts to feed your kids healthy! but chocolate milk should stay an option in schools-

[LTF]

1. I'm not surprised, just unhappy. 2. Doing something for generations doesn't make it right.

[Jim]

I don't really understand how:

1. This can be a surprise at all
2. This can be a big deal, at all

Chocolate milk has been part of the school lunch menu for generations. I had it almost every day in middle school, and some days, it was the one thing about lunch hour that didn't suck. Take a deep breath, eh? Eventually your kid will get tired of the same thing every day, even if it is chocolate milk.

[LTF]

I asked PPS Nutrition staff to weigh in and here's what they replied - a big thanks to them for a weighing in so fast at such a busy time of year! Seems that reasonable people can disagree. I still can't see the wisdom in teaching kids that to like 'healthy' foods they must taste like candy. They wrote:

I am forwarding a response that I wrote last year to a parent who wanted chocolate milk banned. I personally believe that chocolate milk is a nutritious choice for children, but the topic causes a spirited debate not only between the dietitians in our office, but also among health professionals throughout the country. There is not an easy answer to the chocolate milk question. It is very likely that some young children fill up on chocolate milk and therefore do not eat their lunch. It is also true that there are older students who eat all of their food and drink all of the chocolate milk and would not drink an qual amount of unflavored milk. There hasn't been much research to document either of these observations.

Research from the University of Vermont published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association confirms that flavored milk is a healthy beverage choice for kids and adults. The study evaluated data from USDA's Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals to determine the typical beverage intake of nearly 4,000 children and adolescents, ages 5-17:
Results showed that children who drink flavored milk consume fewer nutrient-void soft drinks and fruit drinks (those containing less than 10 percent fruit juice) than children who don't drink flavored milk. The study also found that children who consume chocolate or other flavored milk have higher calcium intakes in comparison with children who do not consume flavored milk. Children who consume flavored milk did not have higher intakes of added sugars or total fat in their overall diet in comparison with children who do not consume flavored milk. Children who consume flavored milk had higher total milk intakes when compared to non-consumers of flavored milk.

Nutrition Services asks all schools to offer all students a choice of nonfat chocolate milk or 1% lowfat milk for the following reasons:

1) Chocolate milk is a nutritious food that provides students with protein, calcium, vitamin D, riboflavin, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin A, vitamin B-12 and niacin.

2) Students drink chocolate milk due to the enhanced palatability and overall milk consumption declines when only regular milk is provided. At the one elementary school that has restricted chocolate milk to Fridays for the last three years, students poured out nearly 10 gallons of regular milk (equaling about 160 wasted 8 oz milks out of 290 served at lunch on one day).

3) USDA requires that students must be offered a choice of at least two varieties of milk and offering 1% regular and nonfat chocolate meets this goal.

4) Nutrition Services can accommodate families who wish to restrict the milk choice for their children. We can put that information in the student's meal account.

5) a National Dairy Council survey of 4000 mothers showed that 92% support offering flavored milk with school lunches and 73% would be upset if it were eliminated.

So at this point in time, Nutrition Services believes that restricting the choice of flavored milk will result in Portland students drinking less milk overall and we are not in favor of taking that choice away from students and families.

[Heather]

My daughter takes her lunch everyday,we just put soymilk,water,whatever in her water bottle.The whole prepaid thing is rediculous-we have never bought lunch but we keep getting calls saying we owe money-?Obviously some kid cant remember their own 6 digit pin #.

[Sheryl]

LizardMama--here's what I remember about the days before prepaying for lunch--kids losing or forgetting lunch money; bigger kids stealing little kid's lunch money; my mom never having the right change, having to bring a dollar and losing the change I was supposed to bring her; kind teachers "loaning" lunch money to kids; and the free lunch kids being given special red tickets by the teacher, ensuring that everyone knew who the "poor" kids were.

I totally get your point about the debit card, but in my experience it's safer, more efficient and since everyone has one (even the free lunch kids), it sort of levels that particular playing field.

[LizardMama]

My son came after his first day of k-garten yesterday and said "Mom, I used my milk money just fine. And they had CHOCOLATE MILK!" Well, he was so impressed with himself for buying his milk, AND for proudly telling me it was only 2 quarters, not the 4 I had mistakenly left in his lunch box.

I cook mostly organic vegetarian meals, I'm vegan, grow a mean family garden, and work hard to bring good food to my family. Even so, I was totally fine with him drinking chocolate milk. He has learned about good food at home, is learning to make his own food choices, and now knows how much a container of milk costs at school better than me! We have a rule in our house that we eat ONE sugary thing a day... whether it is a lifesaver at Grandma's, a cookie I've made, or chocolate milk at school. It works for all of us... we're pretty fit healthy people. I figure the fresh green beans he picked from the garden and insisted on me putting in tomorrow's lunch box will offset tomorrow's chocolate milk just fine.

The thing I still haven't quite wrapped my brain around is why they want us to prepay for lunch... this is our kids first chance to be responsible for money, how much things cost, and make choices. I realize fully that it is probably a convenience thing... still just seems strange that they can just swipe a card and voila' its paid for. I guess it just means we need to make some effort to talk to our kids about the magic card full of money and explain how it got there...anyone done this yet?

[e.]

As both myself and my daughter are lactose intolerant, I'm more peeved that they won't give my daughter juice without a note from a doctor. A doctor? As though you need a doctor to diagnose lactose intolerance! And why can't they just drink water anyway? My daughter gets a home packed lunch with a thermos of soy milk every day. As she gets older, I may have to explain to her than since she doesn't eat land animals or cheese, there's simply nothing for her. She can't have yogurt and cookies for lunch everyday! As an aside, I was a little ticked off to find out that today the kids had ice-cream for snack in my daughter's pre-K classroom. I filled out forms not even a whole week ago stating that she was lactose intolerant. To add insult to injury, we had an appointment with a new doc after school today who gave us a no juice lecture because our daughter was barely a couple of pounds heavier than was indicated for her height. I've got a doc telling us to lay off the juice because of the sugar (natural sugar at that) and her classroom feeding her ice-cream in the place of a healthy snack. Really?

[Sara]

Choice is good, but 6-year-old children sometimes (or often, in the case of most of the perfectly lovely 6-year-olds I know) do not make good choices. Choice is good, but choosing from an array of bad options is bad. I don't think anyone could possibly argue that corn syrup is a good choice for anyone, ever. I think that the "freedom of choice" argument is a bit of a red herring here - the issue is that our kids do not have good choices. Children for whom chocolate milk and hot pockets at school represent all the calories they get all day deserve to have better nutrition.

The "choices" that are currently offered by our public schools are dictated by a number of policies, such as the heavy subsidization of corn farming. Those of us who are concerned should fight those policies in order to ensure that everyone has better choices. In the meantime, we can also do what we can to provide our children healthy meals when we can.