Photo by: © istockphoto/carebott

Raising My Hand For Chocolate Milk

by Felicia Stoler, DCN, MS, RD
Photo by: © istockphoto/carebott

I’ve been thinking a lot about chocolate milk lately. And not just because it’s one of my favorite ways to get another serving of dairy in my day.

It actually started awhile ago when the question of whether or not to serve chocolate milk came up in a nearby school. A handful of parents felt kids should be drinking regular milk only due to concerns over extra sugar and calories in flavored milk.

As a registered dietitian and someone who is deeply entrenched in children’s nutrition issues, this set off alarm bells for me on a number of levels. Childhood obesity is a serious issue in our country today, but so is childhood nutrition. Study after study reveals that our children are not meeting their nutrient needs in many areas, including calcium, vitamin D and other nutrients that are abundant in milk.

Working with the school to address the concerns raised and keep chocolate milk on the lunch line, I quickly realized that many people simply do not know the facts on flavored milk and its important role in helping kids get the nutrition they need. That’s why I was extremely pleased when the nation’s dairy farmers and milk processors launched an education campaign to share the facts and science on flavored milk (www.raiseyourhand4milk.com) and asked if I’d be interested in serving as a program spokesperson. (That was a big “YES!”)

I encourage all moms to check out the Raise Your Hand web site and the educational materials offered to get the facts on chocolate milk and see what the science and leading health professional organizations have to say. Also, be sure to raise your hand by signing the online petition to show your support for chocolate milk and help spread the word. (You’ll see me and my kids raising our hands for chocolate milk alongside health and nutrition professionals, and even a few celebrity moms and dads.)

If I had to put it in a nutshell, here’s what I most want moms to know about flavored milk:

  • First and foremost, most health professionals and school nutrition professionals support the role of milk, including chocolate milk, in helping kids meet their daily nutrient needs. This includes the nation’s leading health and nutrition organizations such as the American Dietetic Association (ADA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Heart Association (AHA). In fact, the ADA and AAP put out a joint statement to help reinforce the science and nutritional benefits of flavored milk. See it here
  • Kids love the taste of chocolate milk and they’ll drink more milk overall when chocolate is included in the mix. That’s true at school, too. A recent study by Chartwells School Dining Services and presented at the American Dietetic Association’s annual meeting found that overall milk consumption dropped by as much as 67 percent(!!) when flavored milk was removed from schools. Too often, kids will turn to soda or water and miss out on the nutrients that are so important during these critical periods of growth.
  • But what about the additional sugar and calories, you ask? The majority of chocolate milk served in schools is lowfat or fat free. That’s about 60 calories more than regular lowfat or fat free milk – the equivalent of about half a banana. More importantly, research shows that children who drink lowfat or fat free flavored milk meet more of their nutrient needs; do not consume more added overall sugar, fat or calories; and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers. Studies have shown that flavored milk drinkers also drink fewer high-sugar soft drinks and fruit drinks, which is a positive swap.

    Again, you can get more information and the supporting science for all these points at Raise Your Hand 4 Milk. You can also visit the campaign on Facebook and see what other moms are saying about why they support chocolate milk.

    So raise your hand… and your next glass of lowfat chocolate milk with your kids knowing you’re helping them get essential nutrients they need.

Felicia Stoler, DCN, MS, RD, is a nutritionist and exercise physiologist focusing on child nutrition and host of TLC’s show “Honey We’re Killing the Kids.” Dr. Stoler serves as a spokesperson for the Raise Your Hand 4 Milk campaign and is pleased to be helping share the facts and science on flavored milk and its role in helping children get the nutrients they need with parents nationwide.

Editor’s Note This post was sponsored by America’s dairy farmers and milk processors.

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97 Comments

First I think it is irresponsible of Mamapedia to post lengthy advertisements like this disquised as medical commentary. If the dairy farmers want to buy an ad on this site, that is fine, but this is horribly misleading. I am really disapointed.

Second, I have no problem with chocolate milk. I do however have a huge problem with the chocolate milk served at schools. It is sweetened with HFCS and has other additives...

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Doesn't chocolate milk have high fructose corn syrup in it? I know mcDonald's does( and theirs is gross). My son goes to a great public school, but the lunches are horrible. With all this concern over chldhd obesity , why aren't schools offering better/non processed foods? Money? Probably. But then the govt needs to stop complaining about chldhd obesity...

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Ugh. I really hate this article. It should be noted that this post, as well as the last regarding chocolate milk, was sponsored by America’s dairy farmers and milk processors. Therefore, this is an obviously biased report in order to primarily promote the consumption of milk.
Similar to Lynn-Rose's post, when I was a kid growing up in the 1970's, milk was just something you drank. It's that or nothing...

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This is a commercial outrage and I am disguisted with the dairy farmers for taking this approach. I am glad there are so many smart Moms who can see straight through it!

Note to editor - there should be NO sponsored messages on this board they are not objective and therefore not beneficial to readers! Many Doctors say no to dairy altogether!

I agree with the great comments from Susan, Gretchen Goel, Marina Graham and Heather A. I am going to repeat Heather's post...

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what a nice advertisement!
i prefer to nurse my human children with human milk until the need for milk is met. we also supplement with vitamin D and cod liver oil and serve calcium rich foods. there are other options than simply relinquishing control to a lobbying group and saying, "but we HAD to! it was the only way to get them to drink it!"

Seriously? As disclosed, this article was sponsored by the dairy industry. Let's recognize this as propoganda and move on.

I think Chocolate milk is great but what I don't like is that it's full of corn syrup!!!! If you start reading about all the studies of what corn syrup is doing to our brains then you probably would be against chocolate milk. If they could make it more natural then I'm for it, but right now I'll have to disagree.

This recommendation for keeping chocolate milk in schools ignores the fact that not all chocolate milk is created equal.

The better kinds without the unnecessary ingredients cost twice as much, meaning, at least in my experience, schools that offer chocolate milk are going for the less expensive kinds that include a number of additives, such as high fructose corn syrup,hydrogenated oils, and/or artificial sweetners...

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It really bothers me that so called "professonal dieticians" are being paid to provide terrible advise on health. Milk causes inflammation in the majority of people. Read more about milk and grains and how they contribute to much of society's health problems including arthritis, heart disease, etc.. Loren Cordain has done a lot of research on this.

Agree very much with Susan who called this "such an irresponsible article." First of all, notice that our expert here is being paid by the dairy farmers. Second, all Americans have been duped by diary famers and their highly paid lobbyists into believing we need dairy for calcium and vitamin D. We don't, at all. In fact 30-50-% of caucasions cant even digest dairy. It is a baby's food...

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WHOA... Chocolate milk as a solution to childhood nutritional deficiencies? This article is WAY off the mark. There are a number of reasons why children (and adults!) are nutrient-deficient. Large scale industrial agriculturAL practices have polluted our soil, making it less nutrient rich. Non-organic veggies and fruits have roughly 25% less nutritional value than organic counterparts...

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I would like to add that if your child has a genetic pre-disposition to TYPE ONE DIABETES you should not feed him/her cow's milk, as studies have shown it to contribute to the expression of the diabetes gene.

As many noticed this was sponsored by the Dairy Council, no wonder there is a campaign! Yay to Marina Graham and Gretchen Goel for putting forth the fact that we can get all the vitamins and minerals mentioned from vegetables, grains and fruit, not animal products. After reading The China Study, my family has greatly changed our diets and feel fantastic...

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I totally agree with what Gretchen wrote above. I have never read such a ludicrous article. The sad part is that it is written by a DIETICIAN, the very person who is supposed to know about nutrition.

The article is true - chocolate milk is supported by American Dietetic Association (ADA), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Heart Association (AHA), which is even more sad...

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Let's remember who's paying for this "raise your hand" campaign. Companies. Milk companies. Sugar/Sweetner companies. If you want to watch a horror movie about the effects of sugar in the human body- check out the real science out of UCSF Medical school on Youtube:
Sugar: The Bitter Truth
Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatric

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