Elise Stefanik bucks Mayor Adams, wants chocolate milk offered in all schools
This puts a whole new wrinkle in the school choice debate.
Upstate New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is proposing a federal law that would require all schools to offer chocolate or other flavored milk in addition to regular milk — in a not-so-subtle jab at health fanatic Mayor Eric Adams, who thinks the sugar-laden dairy product is bad for kids.
“Let our New York students drink chocolate milk!” a defiant Stefanik, the No. 4 House Republican, told The Post.
“Our dairy farmers in Upstate New York and the North Country work hard to produce nutritious milk for our communities,”
How ever chocolate milk doubles the amount of sugar in a cup of milk, and increases the number of calories from 100 to 140. It trains kids to have a sweeter palate — if your child is constantly drinking chocolate milk, he/she will have hard time drinking regular milk, or really anything that doesn’t have high sugar content.
More than two-thirds of milk served in schools is flavored, and an essential way for students to receive the necessary calcium, protein and other dairy nutrients they need for healthy growth and development, according to International Dairy Food Association figures by Stefanik.
Kids are not receiving enough calcium, vitamin D and potassium, which are also found in milk, according to Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans data.
Should kids be allowed to have chocolate milk in school? Let’s break this down.
It is recommended that kids should not have over than 40 grams of chocolate milk a day.
The USDA notes that, apart from calcium, 1 cup of chocolate milk has 149 calories and offers 7.99 grams of protein, 2.5 grams of fat, 24 grams of carbs (of which 22.01 grams are from sugar), 420 milligrams of potassium, 130 milligrams of sodium, 499 milligrams of vitamin A and 101 milligrams of vitamin D.
While the calories in chocolate milk are not empty calories because they also deliver nutrition, chocolate milk gets a bad rap because of its sugar content, which makes it a less healthy option compared to other drinks, like regular milk, for example.
The Dairy Council of California explains that all the sugar in chocolate milk is not added sugar; of the 22 grams of sugar in 1 cup of chocolate milk, roughly 12 grams of sugar are from lactose, which is a type of natural sugar found in milk. However, that still leaves you with around 10 grams of added sugar.
After reviewing the numbers, the recommended amount of chocolate milk is forty grams with a cup coming in at 24 grams.
Kids are not receiving enough calcium, vitamin D and potassium, which are also found in milk, according to Federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans data. And if they take away chocolate milk kids will only consume only 30 % will consume regular milk.
With this in mind limit the size of chocolate milk in the cafeteria to the to an eight-ounce container which is a cup.
The sugar content will be within an acceptable range and they will also get the required nutrients.
The kids will also learn moderation as they will be limited to an eight ounce container.
Would this solution be acceptable? It is an option but would something like this be even suggested? The problem with both sides of the aisle today is when one side wants to impose their views on the constituency, the other side grandstands without assessing the situation and working out a reasonable agreement.
We will discuss this live on Davin’s den Tuesday July 18th 6:30-9:30 et. Go to davincomedy.com. click the Davin’s Den link and you are there. Also check us out live on the Davin’s Den Facebook page.
