Milk marketers' chocolate campaign annoys some nutritionists

The creators of the "Got Milk?" campaign are getting ready to make a big push to keep chocolate milk on kids' minds and on school lunch menus, a plan that has some educators and obesity activists none too pleased.

[Coulrophobia]

It's not just the extra calories that are the problem -- it's the huge amount of sugar in flavored milks, and the fact that, invariably, full-fat milk is used. An 8-oz.serving of chocolate milk has a whopping 25 g of sugars (vs. 13g for plain whole milk), which is just under 6 teaspoons! That much whole milk has 8g of fat, 5 of that saturated. In contrast, low-fat milk has just 2.5 g of fats (1.5 saturated) in an 8 oz. serving. The sugars are about the same: 12g. Fats are necessary for developing kids, and aren't a worry for healthy children, but they are a problem for obese, inactive kids. And sugars are a worry for everyone in our diabetes-ridden society. It's true that flavored milks are an improvement over sodas, as far as sugar is concerned. The average soda contains 40 g of simple sugars (equivalent to just under 10 teaspoons of granulated sugar) in the standard can size of 12 oz (a Minute Maid "orange" soda has 48g!). But kids are so used to big drinks these days that I see kids going through two milk servings. That takes the sugar consumption, if the milks are flavored, up past that of a 12 oz. soda. Sugar in liquid form is insidious. The USDA recommended MAXIMUM daily intake for surgar is 40 g...and that is for an adult.

[Anon]

What they say is true. Be glad the kids drink milk at all. By the same logic be glad they go to school at all; so reward them by selling tasty foods they like at the cafetira and let them make their own choice!