Too much sugar? Schools looking to ban flavored milk

[Bateluer]

http://www.ktar.com/category/us-new...ools-may-ban-chocolate-milk-over-added-sugar/

Some school districts have gone as far as prohibiting flavored milk, and Florida considered a statewide ban in schools. Other districts have sought a middle ground by replacing flavored milks containing high-fructose corn syrup with versions containing sugar, which some see as a more natural sweetener.

Los Angeles Unified, the nation's second-largest school district, is the latest district to tackle the issue. Superintendent John Deasy recently announced he would push this summer to remove chocolate and strawberry milk from school menus.

But nutritionists- and parents- are split over whether bans make sense, especially when about 70 percent of milk consumed in schools is flavored, mostly chocolate, according to the industry-backed Milk Processors Education Program.

Many, including the School Nutrition Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, American Heart Association, and National Medical Association, argue that the nutritional value of flavored low-fat or skim milk outweighs the harm of added sugar. Milk contains nine essential nutrients including calcium, vitamin D and protein.

A joint statement from those groups points to studies that show kids who drink fat-free, flavored milk meet more of their nutrient needs and are not heavier than non-milk drinkers

Personally, I'd say the cause of obesity is a lack of exercise. Many kids today are sedentary, Xbox children. And the parents think its either baby fat, or normal. Banning chocolate milk would probably be worse for the kids because now they're not going to be getting the beneficial parts of the milk. But they will just uptake their increase of soda and other sugary beverages.

If you want to stem obesity, you need to mandate more rigorous fitness/exercise programs, and start young.

 

[Vic Vega]

http://www.ktar.com/category/us-new...ools-may-ban-chocolate-milk-over-added-sugar/



Personally, I'd say the cause of obesity is a lack of exercise. Many kids today are sedentary, Xbox children. And the parents think its either baby fat, or normal. Banning chocolate milk would probably be worse for the kids because now they're not going to be getting the beneficial parts of the milk. But they will just uptake their increase of soda and other sugary beverages.

If you want to stem obesity, you need to mandate more rigorous fitness/exercise programs, and start young.

Education is the key, regulation is not.

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

They serve chocolate milk at my son's school. We talked to him about it and told him why we would like him to pick regular milk. He always gets regular milk and understands why. He is in kindergarten so I know older kids can get it too. Just takes some parent involvement not government bans

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

While I think parents should be involved, I still completely agree with this ban. Not all kids are going to listen to their parents and will still get flavored milk anyway. Considering that each pint has about just as much sugar as a can of soda, I think it should be avoided in schools.

School lunches are another thing - I didn't realize this but apparently lots of school lunches nowadays are just the equivalent of microwaveable frozen foods chock full of preservatives, sodium, fried stuff, and simple carbs. It's cheap for the school, bad for the health of kids.

Microwaveable frozen foods and sugar-laden milk for lunch, plus a sedentary schoolday?

Doesn't sound like a good way to prevent our future generation from getting the diseases of affluence that we are getting now.

 

[imagoon]

I agree with the "regulation not needed" crowd. Teach the child and you will get farther along.

Also if you don't like the school food, in most districts you can pack a lunch with what ever you want your child to eat. A lot of that is parenting. Why should I worry about the other children. Maybe the child that is drinking the chocolate milk is on the school track team and will burn it off in a few hours anyway.

 

[Bateluer]

Education is the key, regulation is not.

When I say mandate exercise/fitness, I'm not referring necessarily to government or administrative interventio. Though I personally believe that PhysEd, actual PT, should be required to graduate HS, 4 credits worth. And this would be cheaper and more effective than banning flavored milk.

Its the sedentary lifestyle more than diet thats causing obesity.

 

[Bateluer]

Also if you don't like the school food, in most districts you can pack a lunch with what ever you want your child to eat.

This has been banned in some school districts already.

 

[gar655]

Nothing wrong with chocolate milk. It's not like they're drinking it by the gallon. 1 maybe 2 cups a day. Big deal.

If most of the schools hadn't eliminated "PE" there wouldn't be such a problem.

Eliminate PE teach the kids how to take government mandated tests, screw actual education, teach classes to the lowest level so average and above average kids can be made as dumb and non caring as the rest, place the burden of actually teaching the kids reading, writing and mathematics on the parents, screw the kids whose parents don't give a shit or just aren't smart enough to help, keep raising taxes to pay for excessive layers of useless bureaucratic dumbasses instead of making more class time etc... etc... etc...

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Nothing wrong with chocolate milk. It's not like they're drinking it by the gallon. 1 maybe 2 cups a day. Big deal.

If most of the schools hadn't eliminated "PE" there wouldn't be such a problem.

Eliminate PE teach the kids how to take government mandated tests, screw actual education, teach classes to the lowest level so average and above average kids can be made as dumb and non caring as the rest, place the burden of actually teaching the kids reading, writing and mathematics on the parents, screw the kids whose parents don't give a shit or just aren't smart enough to help, keep raising taxes to pay for excessive layers of useless bureaucratic dumbasses instead of making more class time etc... etc... etc...

Not to be inflammatory, but two cups of chocolate milk = 48g of sugar. Granted, about half of that is lactose, but the other 24g is sucrose. Sucrose has been linked to terrible things, such as diabetes, stroke, obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, other neurological disorders, metabolic disorders, autoimmune disorders, etc. Honestly, considering a child's caloric intake is relatively low, that's a pretty big % of their total calories eaten. Sugar is crap.

And as for everyone's argument about exercise: yes, exercise is good, but poor diet can ruin the benefits. Good nutrition is great, but no exercise minimizes the benefits there too. Honestly, no one can say with any certainty that one is more important in the weight department. There's just too much going on with metabolic pathways, hunger regulation, neurophysiology, hormones, etc to say one way or the other. You know what you do? You have more exercise classes and don't offer crap at school. Everyone wins, no matter what school of thought you relate with.

 

[imagoon]

This has been banned in some school districts already.

Pretty sure that is what "most" means. And that crap is the example of yet more over regulation.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Not to be inflammatory, but two cups of chocolate milk = 48g of sugar. Granted, about half of that is lactose, but the other 24g is sucrose. Sucrose has been linked to terrible things, such as diabetes, stroke, obesity, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, other neurological disorders, metabolic disorders, autoimmune disorders, etc. Honestly, considering a child's caloric intake is relatively low, that's a pretty big % of their total calories eaten. Sugar is crap.

And as for everyone's argument about exercise: yes, exercise is good, but poor diet can ruin the benefits. Good nutrition is great, but no exercise minimizes the benefits there too. Honestly, no one can say with any certainty that one is more important in the weight department. There's just too much going on with metabolic pathways, hunger regulation, neurophysiology, hormones, etc to say one way or the other. You know what you do? You have more exercise classes and don't offer crap at school. Everyone wins, no matter what school of thought you relate with.

Totally agree.

You can exercise hard for an hour each day, but afterwards you've got 23 hours to completely fuck it up with your diet.

I for one think that education is *not* the one and only key. Look at how much education material is out there about eating and being healthy. And look at what we have. An overweight, sick population. People know what they *should* be doing, but they aren't doing it. You can tell people to do something all day long, but if there's a six pack of delicious soda in front of them that they've been conditioned to enjoy all the way back from when they were young, they're still going to go for the soda.

Education + Commitment to Healthy Lifestyle/Diet + Wholesome Available Foods = Health

You gotta have all 3. You can have all the education you want but if you don't have the commitment and ease of availability of foods you're screwed.

Case in point - I've got the education and the commitment, but sometimes it's just so hard to eat right because it takes some serious work and cash to get healthy foods. Junk is everywhere, it's cheap, and it's fast. Almost everything that is not in the outside periphery of a modern grocery store is processed junk. Almost 100% of restaurants only serve main dishes chock full of refined grains, saturated fats, and a sugary beverage.

Education needs to be there, but we also need to make it easier for people to get healthier foods. In fact, it should be the default option. Choice is fine for adults, but make it easier to get the healthy foods instead of the junk. But for little kids, adults need to step in and limit their choices to healthy stuff.

 

[MrEgo]

Kids eat what, one meal per day at a school? When I grew up, we weren't all fatasses, yet they still served the same garbage that they do today. Chocolate milk, mystery meat, and Pizza by the truckload.

 

[Deeko]

Ehh, chocolate milk isn't the healthiest choice, but its not THAT bad. Its still better than soda.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Ehh, chocolate milk isn't the healthiest choice, but its not THAT bad. Its still better than soda.

Eh, that's just because you're comparing it to something significantly worse. That's like saying, well, Osama bin Laden wasn't so bad compared to Hitler. It's a true statement, based on shear numbers, but it doesn't mean that either one is preferable.

 

[Deeko]

Except that I do believe there are plenty of schools with soda machines. They have a problem, not the schools with chocolate milk.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I don't see how replacing HFCS with sugar is going to make any difference. They're essentially the same thing, they're equally bad for you, and people will just drink more of the stuff because they think it's more 'natural'.

If you want to stem obesity, you need to mandate more rigorous fitness/exercise programs, and start young.

This is not true. Because of the way people reward themselves after exercise, for many it actually has a slightly detrimental overall effect on weight. The key to losing weight is to eat less. Obviously the devil is in the detail, but the principle is the same.

 

[Bateluer]

I don't see how replacing HFCS with sugar is going to make any difference. They're essentially the same thing, they're equally bad for you, and people will just drink more of the stuff because they think it's more 'natural'.

Natural sugars are fine for you, so long as you're ingesting them in moderation. There's sugar in apples, oranges, bananas, and kiwi's, for example, but we can both agree that fruit is part of a good diet.

This is not true. Because of the way people reward themselves after exercise, for many it actually has a slightly detrimental overall effect on weight. The key to losing weight is to eat less. Obviously the devil is in the detail, but the principle is the same.

Fitness and good health isn't just about weightloss. I enjoy a Dr Pepper or a Coke after a marathon, doesn't mean I instantly undid the run nor does it mean my training/recovery is going to be adversely effected either. But yes, if you 'reward' yourself with a box of donuts after a 20 minute PT class, its not going to be good.

 

[Deeko]

I don't see how replacing HFCS with sugar is going to make any difference. They're essentially the same thing, they're equally bad for you, and people will just drink more of the stuff because they think it's more 'natural'.

Yea...people want to nitpick, and claim 'oh THIS kind of sugar is the one that's going to kill you!!!' Meh. If you're eating too much sugar, you're going to have a health problems, regardless of which sugar varient it is.

Personally, I'd drink chocolate milk over orange juice...and I don't see schools rushing to take that off the shelves.

When I grew up, we weren't all fatasses, yet they still served the same garbage that they do today. Chocolate milk, mystery meat, and Pizza by the truckload

Exactly...schools have had pizza and chocolate milk forever, and kids weren't always as fat as they are today. The chocolate milk isn't the problem.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Natural sugars are fine for you, so long as you're ingesting them in moderation. There's sugar in apples, oranges, bananas, and kiwi's, for example, but we can both agree that fruit is part of a good diet.



Fitness and good health isn't just about weightloss. I enjoy a Dr Pepper or a Coke after a marathon, doesn't mean I instantly undid the run nor does it mean my training/recovery is going to be adversely effected either. But yes, if you 'reward' yourself with a box of donuts after a 20 minute PT class, its not going to be good.

Well, on the topic of education and sugar, there's a LOT of misinformation out there.

Natural sugar = HFCS.

The only thing that sets natural sugar apart is the container it's in. Natural sugar in apples, oranges, kiwis, etc are contained in a ton of fiber which slows absorption and minimizes the insulin response, which in turn minimizes chances of diabetes and other diseases. Nature naturally makes sugars hard to get or hard to absorb all at once. Fruits have fiber. Honey is guarded by bees.

But humans made concentrated sugar easy to get, and no matter if it's HFCS or natural sugar, if it's not encased in fiber it goes right into our blood and creates that bad insulin response. Flavored milk, soda, and fruit juices are all culprits.

Once the body gets bombarded with concentrated sugar, our blood sugar spikes up, our bodies produce a lot of insulin in response because it has to lower blood sugar, and all that insulin shunts some of that sugar to energy but a lot of it directly into fat storage. Over time we develop insulin resistance from eating so much food that produce sugar spikes and our bodies have to make even more insulin, which shunts even more sugar directly into fat.

You need 2000kcal a day to feel good. You eat 2000kcal, but 500kcal gets shunted directly to fat due to your now insulin resistant body that compensates by making too much insulin. So you're only left with 1500kcal to burn, and you feel horrible. So you eat 500kcal more, 100kcal of that gets shunted directly to fat, and in total you've eaten 2500kcal, more than your normal 2000kcal. 600kcal got turned directly to fat, and 1900kcal was used for energy, and you still feel slightly lousy because 1900kcal is still lower than the 2000kcal you need.

So you eat more, you gain weight, and you *still* feel lousy because all that sugar spikey food you've been eating for years has now left you with a screwed up insulin-resistant body.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Exactly...schools have had pizza and chocolate milk forever, and kids weren't always as fat as they are today. The chocolate milk isn't the problem.

The chocolate milk is part of the problem. I don't think anyone is saying that chocolate milk is the *only* problem.

Bad food as a kid does not necessarily mean fat kids at that same point in time. It means in the future those kids will likely grow up to be fat adults.

Schools have had junk forever. When I went to school our food was kind of junky too - pizza and flavored milks. Now I'm an adult, and a lot of my peers are overweight. Why? They started getting used to eating junk at an early age. Luckily for me I always naturally liked plain milk better and had a much bigger appetite for meat and veggies rather than soda and refined carbs. But I can't say the same for my peers when I went to school.

The fact that there are more kids in school that are *already* fat just means that this whole process of weight gain has been accelerated, probably by a combination of shitty food, bad parenting, and a sedentary lifestyle.

 

[Saint Nick]

Kids don't pick the right foods to eat because they don't understand the short- long-term consequences of a poor diet and no physical activity. Chocolate milk isn't bad. Sure, there is sugar, but not really enough to matter.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Natural sugars are fine for you, so long as you're ingesting them in moderation. There's sugar in apples, oranges, bananas, and kiwi's, for example, but we can both agree that fruit is part of a good diet.

Bullshit. Sucrose is chemically identical to HFCS. And if you just took all the sugar out of many fruits and ingested that, it would be even worse, because there's even more fructose as a percentage of total sugars than in HFCS or sucrose. The thing with fruit is that it's bundled together with so much fiber, which slows down passage through the gut, slows down absorption, reduces the insulin response, and makes you feel fuller. The problem with sugars in processed foods is that it is quick to get at. It spikes up the insulin, which over time reduces the sensitivity of tissues to insulin, which means you get diabetes. It has no other stuff with it, which means that you don't feel any fuller, even though you've just drunk the equivalent of a sandwich. Which means you eat more, which means you get fat.

Exactly...schools have had pizza and chocolate milk forever, and kids weren't always as fat as they are today. The chocolate milk isn't the problem.

The chocolate milk (and other processed drinks, foods etc.) was always part of the problem. It was just that nobody noticed how bad it was because nobody drunk it with the frequency that children do now.

 

[Deeko]

Meh. You can eat unhealthy things in moderation. This hasn't changed. You can drink chocolate milk and still be healthy. Hell, you can even drink soda now and then and still be healthy. There's no reason for the schools to ban it -its just not that bad. These nutjobs won't be happy until all the school serves is water and brocoli....that is, until some "nutritionist" comes up with a study that they're bad for you too.

The problem is with the parents not teaching their kids self control, not with the schools offering chocolate milk.

 

[Saint Nick]

Meh. You can eat unhealthy things in moderation. This hasn't changed. You can drink chocolate milk and still be healthy. Hell, you can even drink soda now and then and still be healthy. There's no reason for the schools to ban it -its just not that bad. These nutjobs won't be happy until all the school serves is water and brocoli....that is, until some "nutritionist" comes up with a study that they're bad for you too.

The problem is with the parents not teaching their kids self control, not with the schools offering chocolate milk.

Precisely. Education at an early age is really the only solution. It is their own fault if they make poor dietary choices throughout their lifetime.

 

[lord_emperor]

I'm for this at the school district level, they can offer whatever they want for students to drink. I do not think LAWS should be passed to enforce this policy though. On top of that I think hiring a cook and buying a heap of fresh vegetables would cost less than packaged meals all told. A school could probably negotiate wholesale or restaurant pricing with the volume they use, and vegetables on that pricing scheme are bloody cheap. If kids choose not to eat, let them starve and send a letter home for the parents.