nunc est bibendum

This morning's Washington Post included the article "Industry pushes chocolate milk in schools." The article describes the new "Raise Your Hand For Chocolate Milk" campaign, which is brought to us by the same people who asked us "Got milk?"

From my reading of it, the gist of this campaign is twofold. First, there is the element of drink more milk. The milk processors will like that because it creates more demand and elevates their bottom line. Second, there is the element of trade in soft drinks and other sugary beverages for milk instead. It is hard for me to disagree with that point. Personally, I believe that the single most effective change a person can make is to remove soft drinks (both regular and diet) from one's diet.

One thing that always seems to happen during any drink milk campaign is that milk and calcium are almost used interchangeably. According to the USDA, children require between 800 and 1300 mg of calcium daily (http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI//DRI_Calcium/71-145.pdf). Considering, there is between approximately 285 and 300 mg of calcium in an eight-ounce glass of milk, we can see the source of the three glasses per day recommendation.

But is milk the best source of calcium? By volume, milk is top of the list of calcium sources. However, calorie for calorie, milk falls significantly. More information can be found in this Live Science article: http://www.livescience.com/health/090624-milk-myth.html. Not to mention there is the problem of lactose intolerance in a significant portion of the population. Therefore, we can ask, is milk the best source of calcium for them?

I see that the site talks a lot about science and the nutrients in both milk and chocolate milk. However, what I see missing from this campaign are the cold, hard facts. Though chocolate milk may be better than soft drinks, how does chocolate milk compare to white milk? And is it better to drink more chocolate milk or less white milk?

First the first question I went to Calorie Count to find some quick information. For instance, comparing 1% milk to 1% chocolate milk, the chocolate milk has 60% more calories (100 v 160) and nearly double the sugars (12.7g v 25g) in each eight ounce serving. Although, it does appear that the nine essential nutrients (calcium, potassium, phosphorous, protein, vitamins A, D and B12, riboflavin and niacin) are comparable between the two.

One failing of that website is that it does not provide an ingredients list of the products in its database. However, I checked out one site that listed the ingredients in that manufacturer's chocolate milk: http://www.prairiefarms.com/index.php?p=454&i=50. Notice that the second and third ingredients are high fructose corn syrup and sugar. I will let you draw your own conclusions from that, but keep in mind that I believe that high fructose corn syrup is the scourge of the processed food industry. While fructose does occur naturally, there is nothing natural about high fructose corn syrup (http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html, http://www.corn.org/FDAdecision7-7-08.pdf).

Of course there is the unwritten difficulty I see with milk in general. Most of the milk sold in this country is processed in some way. Of course, very few want to admit that could be causing us, the consumers, problems. Here is a good article about the consequences of modern milk: http://proliberty.com/observer/20000208.htm. I found this quote from the article rather intriguing: "Curiously, the U.S. as a whole records the highest consumption of dairy products in the world and also boasts the highest incidence of bone fractures and osteoporosis in the world." And of course there is the wonderful site http://www.realmilk.com.

Having said all of that, while the campaign may be technically accurate that chocolate milk is better that soft drinks and juices, it misses the point of what is really wholesome food. This leads me back to a premise I have stated before: eat natural, whole foods, not the processed, fractionated, chemically modified impostors of food so prevalent around us. Therefore, lowfat chocolate milk is on my list of foods to avoid. I will continue with my farm fresh real milk any day.