Comments on: Fayetteville Public Schools to remove chocolate milk from breakfast menu

By: Susan Graham

Susan Graham — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:21:41 +0000

I am very happy they are removing chocolate milk. Are they also removing it from the lunch menu? I would like to know why is whole milk not a choice. The enzymes necessary for absorbing the good stuff from milk is in the fat. I doubt kids are getting fat from milk. There are many kids who get a good diet without a lot of junk food, but they are robbed of the better nutrition available in whole milk.

By: Ogre, you

Ogre, you — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:05:53 +0000

um, other schools, yes, have framed the issue around obesity, but the issue here is about attention span…from the story above:

“This decision was made after much consideration,” said Alan Wilbourn, the district’s public information officer, in a news release. “It is widely accepted that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If we can help our students concentrate better in class each day by eliminating a significant amount of sugar from his or her school breakfast, we think it is well worth it.”

By: Wesley

Wesley — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:38:30 +0000

Um I don’t know where you get your news from but the debate about Chocolate Milk in schools has always been about obesity. It’s pretty much like providing kids soda as part of their school lunches. Hell some soda has less calories.

By: No name provided

No name provided — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:52:35 +0000

I dont like milk. I prefer root beer on my cereal…

By: No name provided

No name provided — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:50:12 +0000

Man, I love milk! I care about nothing more than sweet, sweet milk!

By: No name provided

No name provided — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:34:19 +0000

Quit using my name. Youre making it look like I care about milk and I don’t.

By: sofresh&so&so

sofresh&so&so — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:32:48 +0000

the rational for banning the chocolate milk is the correlation between sugar and attention span, not obesity. if obesity were the concern, school lunches would be serving fewer hash browns for breakfast.

I see no reason 14 extra gams of sugar is going to have a real impact on attention span, particularly where some recent studys say sugary coffee drinks may provide an attention boost. Give them mochas instead!

By: No name provided

No name provided — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:59:47 +0000

There is an article in the paper today about jails serving fresh food and lowering their meal budgets by 1/3rd. Schools can do the same and there are recent examples of some districts doing so.

By: No name provided

No name provided — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:58:03 +0000

So you are advocating we put a bandaid (chocolate milk for calcium) on a cancer sore (school meals with low nutitional values). Yeah, your [sic] smart.

By: Innarested Observer

Innarested Observer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:10:53 +0000

Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

By: Cat Friend

Cat Friend — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 02:17:08 +0000

When I got my cat from the Fayetteville animal shelter, the information said that a saucer of milk is the equivalent to a human eating several cheeseburgers.

By: vandelay

vandelay — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:54:33 +0000

all this talk of “designed for …” is crazy talk to me. Human bodies were not designed for anything. You just made a statement which implied that I am a lone sole whose body became accustomed to milk. That disregards the FACT that a huge portion of the human race has evolved to have a specific genetic trait which allows us to continue producing (beyond infancy) the very specific enzyme which allows us to digest milk. Its not a freak occurance among just a few people. The consumption of milk is time-tested and has proven to be an asset to human growth. Thats why we evolved this very specific trait which allows us to drink milk. It is not necessary to drink milk, but it is a perfectly normal, nutritious food, which happens to be good enough that our species decided to adapt to it.
I understand that a person can be weirded out by the idea of drinking another animal’s milk. I don’t think it is any weirder than a million other things we eat. Do you know where honey comes from? Bees eat the nectar from flowers and then BARF IT UP and save it for later! Then we steal it from their hive and eat it ourselves. That is insect puke we are eating. True story!
Humans eat weird stuff and do weird things. Just because something doesn’t seem “natural” doesn’t mean it is bad for us or we shouldn’t do it. Rollerskating is most certainly NOT natural but it is awesome.
I lived in Japan for three years, ages ago. I drank milk and ate cheese there. I also witnessed and politely declined to eat a wide array of bizarre foods in Asia, because they were unpalatable (or downright disgusting) to me. But that is beside the point. At no point have I said that drinking milk is necessary for humans. I only contend that it is a fine food, completely legitimate and a proven source of nutrition.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 01:17:53 +0000

Inarested observer – note my original comment above “still on the global scale it remains very small”. Fact is it’s being consumed and I lived day to day with the Japanese people and they used milk in schools and at home. I do not know the science around it, only stating a clear day to day observation.

By: Innarested Observer

Innarested Observer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:59:17 +0000

Your body is neither equipped nor designed to digest another animal’s milk. Just because you, a person living in North America, have gotten used to it, doesn’t mean it’s what your body is designed for. Your statement is ludicrous. Cow’s milk is made for calves who need to grow their bones very quickly in the first year of life. Also, I would hardly consider Japan to be a nation of nuts-and-berry foragers and yet the Japanese are mostly lactose intolerant and consume a very small fraction of milk compared to the US. It’s not about the perfect diet and I have a gallon of milk in my fridge right now. It’s about fighting ignorance from people who believe that it’s natural for one species to drink the milk designed for another species. That’s CRAZYTALK!

By: Innarested Observer

Innarested Observer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:54:31 +0000

Justin, the Japanese people consume a tiny fraction of milk, on average, compared to Americans. 70% of the world’s citizens do not consume milk or do so in very, very small amounts. Cow’s milk is designed for calves in their first year of existence. When you consider the incredible skeletal growth of a calf in its first year, you realize that this milk contains an excessive amount of calcium for human consumption. Cow’s milk is made for calves. Milk does not improve bone health. American women consume the most milk and also have the highest rate of osteoporosis.

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:21:18 +0000

Blaaarg – I agree with your comments from a historical perspective but it’s not so much the case anymore, specifically in Japan. Several years ago I lived and taught in Japan and every school meal that was served the students were served milk and drank it. Historically, yes, there has not been much milk consumed in these countries and still on the global scale it remains relatively small. However, they have realized that adding this to their diet improves growth, bone health, and calcium intake much easier than other forms of food. If you look at the older to younger generation of Japanese people you will also easily see a distinct height gap between the two groups, of which many studies will attribute this to the consumption of milk.

Either way, I think it’s a good idea to get rid of choco milk. No need for the added sugar.

By: Innarested Observer

Innarested Observer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:04:18 +0000

FWIW, I love milk. Having said that, it’s not really natural for anyone past the age of infancy to drink it. (Hey Blarg, now I know why we don’t have any fine Asian cheeses to choose from, too.)

In a nation where chocolate milk is debated about and Reagan had ketchup declared as a vegetable, I think we’ve got larger problems that need addressing as pertains to the foods we feed our children.

By: burgerboy

burgerboy — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:01:37 +0000

Agriculture allowed more humans to survive rather than starve because they were able to maximize their calories.

Agriculture also had a downside in the number of degenerative diseases it brought to humans. Google Weston Price and read bout his findings and his photography. It will change the way you look at food.

I’m happy that there are enough intelligent people in Fayetteville (on both sides) that a post about milk in school devolves into an in depth discussion about nutrition, evolution and progress.

By: vandelay

vandelay — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:19:25 +0000

Blarrrg, which time period should we look to for the perfect diet? Sounds like it lies somewhere between 7 million and 10,000 years ago.
Don’t forget, the humans who embraced agriculture and animal husbandry where the ones who survived. Not the folks still grubbing around in the forest for nuts and berries. And I mention this with a twinge, because I love nuts and berries.

By: vandelay

vandelay — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:13:44 +0000

[For the record, I am not a huge milk drinker. Just occasionally. I really have no stake in this other than it is kind of an interesting topic.]

There is no particular food that is specifically needed by humans. We can get any of the nutrients from a variety of sources. The human body was not “designed” by anything or anyone for any particular purpose or function. It evolves and adapts. A large portion of humanity has evolved to produce lactase throughout adulthood, which enables us to digest milk. So, for many modern people, including myself, the human body IS perfectly equipped (or designed) to drink and digest milk.
I sincerely do not know what people have against milk. I understand that modern food production is nasty, there are issues with hormones and other pharmaceuticals, etc… But is there a beef (ha!) with milk in itself?