May
17

Dem. Governor Intolerant of Chocolate Milk Ban

The bill, recently approved by Connecticut’s General Assembly, was meant to reduce the sodium intake from beverages served to public school students. (Part of the national “fight against obesity”, of course.) An amendment disallows any drink with sodium added to it. Chocolate milk wasn’t targeted, but since it does contain about 60-90 milligrams of added salt to counter the cocoa’s natural bitterness, it would likely be affected by the ban. It still isn’t considered “high-sodium”, though, and Gov. Dannel Malloy “is not supportive of banning chocolate milk in public schools,” according to his spokesperson, and plans to veto the legislation if/when it comes across his desk.

I don’t blame him! Except for those who are lactose intolerant or allergic to chocolate, (semi-)regular chocolate milk is a rite of passage for most kids in America. (Some of us big kids still enjoy it from time to time, too!) We all know how healthy milk is for us, containing all kinds of important vitamins & minerals. For example,

“Each eight-ounce serving of plain or flavored milk provides 300 mg of calcium, as much as one-fourth of the daily calcium requirement for children, according to the National Dairy Council.”

Kids drink more milk when it is flavored, and, according to Heidi Harkopf of the New England Dairy and Food Council, milk consumption goes down by at least 35% when chocolate milk is no longer a choice. So, since a) most flavored milk provided at schools is already low-fat or fat-free and b) the amount of sodium added is there for good reason and insufficient to be considered “high-sodium content”, my question is: