Comments on: Chocolate milk redux: Nutrifluff vs. Policy

By: Alexander Rinehart MSACN

Alexander Rinehart MSACN — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:56:36 +0000

Drinking chocolate milk is like taking your vitamins with pudding, we should focus on doing the right things first when it comes to our health. Diabetes will affect 1-3 kids, we shouldn’t even be arguing this.

By: Jenny Breen

Jenny Breen — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:15:13 +0000

Yes, you live in a leftie, hippie, Seattle world. I live in one too, in Minneapolis, but unfortunately most people don’t live remotely close to here. We are talking about consumers who believe that food needs low quality, highly processed and environmentally unsound additives to taste good. They are highly influenced by the power of industrial food companies with extraordinary marketing power. Kids will eat what is given to them, if there are not bad choices, they won’t make them. Sadly, obesity and other diet related health issues are a huge concern for the majority (2 out of 3) of children in this country.

By: What’s On Your Plate? Blog » Blog Archive » Less chocolate, more milk

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:22:09 +0000

[...] facts are these: a study showed that chocolate milk seemed to help in preventing atherosclerosis (though the scientists stressed that more studies are necessary before any real conclusions can be reached) and milk companies jumped on it. There are now ad [...]

By: my year without

my year without — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:58:17 +0000

My biggest gripe with that “study” in the NY Times is that in conclusion, cocoa seemed to be the real winner (reducing inflammation) and milk had nothing to do with it, other than being the carrier.

By: Genie

Genie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:14:40 +0000

My 5 year old niece told me that has to get Strawberry or Chocolate milk at school because the regular milk in schools is “icky” and doesn’t taste as good as the organic milk at home.

By: Anthro

Anthro — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:50:43 +0000

Betsy in Seattle – Yes.

I am from Seattle as well and raised my family in Portland, OR, but I know that public health policy is aimed at the entire population, which in general, is not as well-informed as many in the Northwest or other centers of well-educated, upwardly mobile people.

My children only had soda twice a year–8 or 12 oz at the movies, but I wouldn’t pretend that that was the norm, even then.

Your son is still young. As children venture more into the world outside their homes, they are exposed to increased marketing and to people who have been brought up differently. Just wait until your child is made fun of for being so “granola”! Peer pressure is a very powerful thing. The marketers use this to full advantage to undermine all your careful work.

By: Dr. Susan Rubin

Dr. Susan Rubin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:42:12 +0000

Most research on chocolate negates any health benefits when milk is added. The milk in milk chocolate has the potential to interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate.

Roberta Lee MD, from the Center for Health in Healing in New York City, recommends eating an occasional, small amount (like 2 to 3 oz) of the finest quality dark chocolate, which will most likely do more good than harm. Dr. Lee’s warning: No chocolate for those who are diabetic, overweight or hyperlipidemic.

Note the word OCCASIONAL

The chocolate milk hype is all about money and nothing else.
Our kids health should be more important than the dairy industry’s bottom line.

By: Corey

Corey — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:08:06 +0000

I also think Andy Bellati said some good things about that study where chocolate milk reduced inflamation:

http://smallbites.andybellatti.com/?p=4198

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:48:32 +0000

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By: Betsy

Betsy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:10:18 +0000

As the mother of a child who would rather go hungry (and often does) than eat or drink foods and beverages he doesn’t like, I think it’s important to leave room here for a diversity of experiences. I was thrilled to learn that my son would drink chocolate milk because he has completely rejected white cow’s milk. As a baby, he was allergic to dairy (at least via breastmilk), so we started him on soy milk after age 1 in addition to nursing. He is now 6 and still loves soy milk and hates cow’s milk, despite having grown out of his allergy around 18 months. Except he loves chocolate cow’s milk.

As a very active (bike-commuting) vegetarian child who doesn’t eat any junk food, I sometimes struggle to get enough calories into him. Whole grain foods, fruits and vegetables fill him up quickly, so the additional calories of the chocolate milk (we buy organic, cane sugar sweetened, not HFCS) don’t bother me at all.

I guess my point is that not every child is struggling with obesity and not every school serves junk (his has solid, common-sense rules about it). Are we painting with too wide of a brush? Or am I just living in my leftie, hippie Seattle world?