Chocolate milk unhealthy?

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  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Yeah, I would think for most children, when consumed in normal quantities, the nutrients in chocolate milk would be a positive.

    You're not subtracting stuff (like fiber is subtracted from juice), you're adding some chocolate and some sugar. The link you shared contains the claim that it has more sugar than Coca-Cola, but Coca-Cola typically is just carbohydrates, while the chocolate milk is also going to have protein, calcium, and other vitamins. I think this comes down to how negative your feelings are about sugar overall. In the context of a balanced diet, I don't think sugar is something that children have to be shielded from.

    This, exactly. Milk has a lot of nutritional value especially for children. If you can get them drinking more of it by adding a bit of sugar, go for it.


    But then again, I also let my kids eat sugary cereals for breakfast every day.

    My daughter likes the sugary cereal and eats it dry lol I'm a failure as a parent
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
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    I've heard it said more than once that Chocolate milk is a pretty decent post workout drink. Like anything else, you can find a study that backs it up.

    I'm not saying I buy it. But I do see where they are coming from as it has carbs, protein and fat.

    https://bigthink.com/ned-dymoke/chocolate-milk-works-extremely-well-as-a-post-workout-drink-says-study

    The link is there above to judge for yourself.
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    edited June 2018
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    It must be concerns about sugar. When I was a kid, if you were to get me to drink milk, it would have to be chocolate. Since most kids were skinny at the time, no one was concerned about that. I don't know what's behind the skyrocketing obesity in kids, but it's going to take a lot more than getting chocolate milk off the menu to fix it. To me, it's almost like throwing the baby out with the bath water, considering that most children won't get the nutrients from the milk without the chocolate.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Chocolate milk is delicious! My kids don't drink white milk. I buy chocolate as a sports recovery drink for my soccer player and as a special treat when my daughter is home from college.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,514 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    But with that said, what's wrong with white lowfat milk for schools? We didn't have chocolate milk or juice in the school cafeteria when I was growing up. Not till High School.

    Regular Milk was a once a week treat at my school
    The rest of the week the jugs contained plain water
  • deagh93
    deagh93 Posts: 77 Member
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    I'm guessing that he's assuming the choice is between chocolate milk and white milk. For some kids, the choice is chocolate milk or no milk, because they just will not drink white milk. I'd rather see a kid drink chocolate milk than no milk, assuming the kid isn't allergic to milk or lactose intolerant. If it's the "chocolate" that's bothering him so much then put some other flavor in it.

    As for chocolate milk in general, if it's part of an overall healthy diet, I don't see a problem. But then, I'm not a parent, so what do I know?
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
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    deagh93 wrote: »
    I'm guessing that he's assuming the choice is between chocolate milk and white milk. For some kids, the choice is chocolate milk or no milk, because they just will not drink white milk. I'd rather see a kid drink chocolate milk than no milk, assuming the kid isn't allergic to milk or lactose intolerant. If it's the "chocolate" that's bothering him so much then put some other flavor in it.

    As for chocolate milk in general, if it's part of an overall healthy diet, I don't see a problem. But then, I'm not a parent, so what do I know?

    As someone who was a parent, if chocolate milk was the most unhealthy thing your kids ever eat or drink you are doing well.

    My youngest is now 19, so they are largely programmed and executing their own code now.

  • lolly2414
    lolly2414 Posts: 186 Member
    edited June 2018
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    But with that said, what's wrong with white lowfat milk for schools? We didn't have chocolate milk or juice in the school cafeteria when I was growing up. Not till High School.

    My kids get the option of white milk, strawberry milk, or chocolate milk everyday at their school. I was shocked when I found that out, especially with more moves toward healthier lunches in recent years. When I was in elementary school (in the 80s and early 90s) we had one day per week that was chocolate milk day and the rest of the week we only had 1% white milk (or you packed your lunch and your parent sent a thermos with milk, juice, or water). Thankfully, my son and youngest daughter choose white milk about half the time and chocolate the other half. My oldest daughter, however, drinks strawberry milk everyday at lunch. I figure, though, that it's okay since they drink nothing but water at home most of the time and they're all in healthy weight ranges. Still, there are tons of obese children in the school (probably 30% of the total enrollment of kids are obese) and those kids could probably benefit from having low-fat white milk or water as their only options.
  • lolly2414
    lolly2414 Posts: 186 Member
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    NovusDies wrote: »
    It may not be just the chocolate milk. It may be another instance of governmental parenting where the concern is that the child doesn't need the additional sugar because they are afraid he/she is consuming too much at home already. I am not saying it is true or not but I have definitely seen the shift away from trusting parents. I can remember a family vacation being called educational if a parent deemed it so. That changed toward the end of my HS years. After that you were required to be in school unless you were sick and a doctors note was needed after a certain number of days or it was unapproved.

    I could write a novel on this topic as someone who is a licensed teacher (although currently a stay-at-home mom) and a parent. I tend to lean toward the "let parents decide what's best for their children" side of things, yet there's no doubt that childhood obesity is real and a problem, and there are some pretty crappy parents out there.

  • bernadettenz
    bernadettenz Posts: 252 Member
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    My chocolate milk (which I ADORE) is 401 calories for 300ml. So It's a very rare treat these days - but man do I enjoy it! Puhoi Valley Belgian Chocolate >:)
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    No
  • Poisonedpawn78
    Poisonedpawn78 Posts: 1,145 Member
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    Anyone who tries to demonize a specific food in isolation is a quack.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    OHFlamingo wrote: »
    I remember reading a study that kids will choose and drink the chocolate milk if both are offered; if given only the choice of white milk, the kids either didn't take the white milk, or threw it out without drinking it. Let them have their chocolate milk!

    This has been our experience. Mrs. Jruzer works part time in our school cafeteria, where chocolate milk is offered a few days per week. On those days the number of kids getting milk with lunch is noticeably larger than on non-chocolate milk days.

    Full disclosure: Wisconsin residents here, so dairy consumption just might be skewed compared to other locales
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    If you're allowing them calorific beverages, I don't see a substantive difference between milk, chocolate milk, and juice.

    Although My leaning is to discourage drinking calorific beverages. AKA, let them drink water.
  • WJS_jeepster
    WJS_jeepster Posts: 224 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »
    So I usually like Yoni Freedhoff's info and blog and read it semi-frequently. He's a big proponent of getting junk food out of schools which I can understand and sports drinks out of school sports but he's really against chocolate milk as well. Apparently he's not the only one. It just seemed a strange position but maybe it's just me? Was curious what others' thought was on the subject.


    There is more sugar and more calories in chocolate than plain milk. That does not mean it is unhealthy. The nutrients of the milk are still there.

    My dd has always hated plain milk. She will only drink a flavored milk. She has never been overweight or diabetic. Her teeth are fine. She has been underweight and needed more calories from things like whole milk. I don't see a reason not to give her flavored milk.

    My son is the same way. He was so underweight that his pediatrician recommended chocolate milk for the extra calories.

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