I used to like Jamie Oliver. Maybe I will again. But since he convinced the Los Angeles Unified School District to ban flavored milk based on its "high sugar content," I officially think he's a complete idiot. This is why: Oliver went out of his way to demonstrate the evils of chocolate and strawberry milk on his ABC show Food Revolution by filling an entire school bus with sand and likening the vast quantity to the amount of added sugar LA students consume every year in flavored milk alone, one serving of which apparently has the same amount of sugar as a candy bar (between 20 and 27 grams). But guess what? The fruit juice served by the same school cafeterias contains 27 to 29 grams of sugar, and nobody's banning those bevvies.
Even weirder, while I've never heard a pediatrician encourage parents to give their kids juice (unless it's fresh squeezed or has medicine hidden in it or something), I have heard many pediatricians encourage parents to resort to flavored milk if it's the only way they can get their kids to drink milk at all. That would be because milk has very helpful things in it like calcium and protein, while the average juice box packs all the calories of flavored milk but next to no nutritional punch. So, which is the drink that's supposedly contributing to our country's childhood obesity epidemic?
Well, in my opinion, neither. Here's a newsflash nobody is going to like hearing: Apple juice and chocolate milk aren't making your kids fat! If that were the case, kids would have been developing diabetes en masse way before now. Think about what people ate in the 1950s! Meatloaf, Wonder Bread, root beer floats. We weren't a nation of fatties then. What gives?
I'm not pretending to have all the answers. I can't tell you how we should tackle this country's current health crisis. But I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that turning flavored milk into contraband ain't gonna do it.
Do you think the ban on flavored milk in schools is crazy?
Image via edenpictures/Flickr
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Comments 37
I think this is ridiculous. When I was a kid, I hated the taste of regular milk. I still do. The only way I would drink it was to put flavoring in it. It didn't hurt anything, I didn't get fat from it, and I drank more milk because of it. Most flavored milk served in schools is low or non-fat. Is he suggesting we encourage our kids to leave behind the low-fat flavored milk for the white milk with more calories and fat?
I heart Jamie Oliver so much and I love his new show. I wish every school district across the nation would clean up their lunch rooms. Kids DO NOT need flavored milks. If they don't like milk, they can drink water. That's what my kids drink at home. If the schools are going to offer lunch and parents are going to let their children eat those lunches, then it is the school's responsibility to give the very best food possible. Ban chicken nuggets, hot dogs, "breakfast pizza" and all of the other crap and give these kids food that will optimize learning and growth. I agree with a previous poster about fruit juice. It is not the same as sugar laden milk as that is added after the fact. I have never seen a cow produce chocolate milk, have you?
On another note, this meal is the only one some of these children get all day. Wouldn't it be in the child's best interest to mae sure it is the best they can eat? If you want your kid to drink flavored milk, send it yourself.
I wonder if the teacher will see any difference back in their classrooms after lunch time without that sugar high.
Kids will be okay.
Humans do not need cow's milk, there are plenty of foods that supply calcium. I was appalled when I discovered what was being served as food in our schools. It's the $$$, not our childrens health that manufacturers care about. All schools should be on notice.
I worked at a school-age afterschool program and summer camp for a few years and it killed me to know how much sugar those kids consume. When they are thirsty and they don't have access to soda, they scoff at the idea of drinking water. It's foreign to them. That's so wrong.