Should chocolate milk be allowed in schools?

When British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver visited an elementary school in America’s “fattest” city, Huntington, W.Va., he saw the children tossing out fresh fruit in favor of processed chicken nuggets and chowing down on egg pizza for breakfast. But it was the sugar-laden chocolate milk that would stick in his mind, as he recounted this year in a speech he gave when receiving a TED Prize. “It epitomizes the trouble we’re in, guys,” said the star of ABC’s “Food Revolution,” a show that promoted healthy eating in public schools. “In that [milk] is nearly as much sugar as your favorite cans of fizzy pop.”

As schools have gradually been eliminating soda machines from their cafeterias to battle childhood obesity, a growing chorus of food activists has shifted its focus to chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milks, which account for more than 70% of school milk consumption.

The National Dairy Council has launched an aggressive public relations campaign, Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk, to keep flavored milk in schools. Pediatricians, public health experts and school administrators are divided as to whether the nutritional benefits of flavored milks outweigh their sugary downside.

Read the full article at The Chicago Tribune