Do you consider chocolate milk healthy for children?

Member

I made some chocolate milk for Nichole the other day and she asked me if it was good for you. I told her I guess the calcium and vitamins in milk are good for you but the sugar and added fat probably were not so good. She said there's a commercial about chocolate milk being healthy. dunno

I just wonder if it's something they should be touting on commercials. Nothing like an 8 year olds question to make you think about something.
And why does it seem like the more you try to explain something, you have more explaining to do?

The Pinball

no. i think it's junk food, but i'm not all that sold on the "health" benefits of milk either. kids love chocolate milk tho' and it is the drink of choice in our school cafeteria. of course.

Frightened Inmate #2

I'm thinking that all the sugar and fat added by the chocolate probably outweigh most of the benefits the just plain old milk provides.

That being said, I love chocolate milk.

Gone Fishin

<caveat... former USDA, Milk Marketing div employee>

Of course it's good!! It's milk with all it's benes plus choco to flavor. We buy nearly as much chocomilk as we do regular. The fat content is typically between 2% and whole milk (4%). A lot of stores offer chocomilk in the skim & 1% varieties too and the added sugar is pretty minimal when you compare it to soda or other kid's soft drinks.

I guess I'm like Runtexas and his beef banner. I'll carry the dairy banner all the way to the bank. Having been on the farms and in the creameries, I can tell you first hand it's first-rate good quality stuff. There really is no food item more inspected and eyed than milk going from farm to fridge. In today's world of questionable groceries, I'm all thumbsup for milk.
<cheesehead cap back in the drawer>

Excelent

Its really the only we can get Michael to drink milk. We do limit him to 3 glasses a day though. Our peditrician actually encouraged us in an effort to get Michael to drink more milk

Member

All I know is when the thermos goes out with plain milk, it comes back half full. When it goes out with chocolate milk, it comes back empty.

Flailing Homosapiens

I asked my son's Doc the same question...she said that although it does add more sugar, fat, calories...it's an OK alternative for a kid who won't drink white milk at all or for a treat for the kids who will.

Which is why they can offer it as part of school lunch, or so she told me.

Adjunct

That is the only way JJ will drink milk.

Oompa Loofah

I think it's great. I have a hard time with plain ol' white milk. So, I can understand if a child doesn't like it either. I looooove chocolate milk!

My Hershey's syrup is fat free, so, added to milk, it only adds sugar, wonderful sugar. (I think they even sell a sugar-free brand with some type of sweetener for diabetics)

AZhat

Yes, if it's the only way to get your child to take in any milk or dairy (Kid #3).

No, if another child wants to down it like water(Kid #2) and could drink it all day long.

Do you consider chocolate milk healthy for children?

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