Chocolate milk’s been getting a bad rep lately. Some schools in America have banned chocolate milk entirely due to its high fat and sugar contents, while others are snapping back claiming that chocolate milk is a great way to get young, growing bodies the calcium and Vitamin D they require.
While there is chocolate milk available with fewer sweeteners, some health officials say the overall calorie content is still basically the same, regardless of the sucrose level. Calories aside, statistics show that students don’t get all the calcium they need if they just have regular milk mainly because kids don’t like to drink plain white milk. It sounds like a dog chasing its own tail, but the debate could lead to no chocolate milk in your school!
Our advice: If you’re having chocolate milk as a beverage every day for lunch, maybe mix it up a bit between the weeks with regular milk. If you don’t like the taste of regular milk, drink some natural fruit juice or water as a beverage and get your calcium and vitamin D through other foods, like oranges (which contain both vitamin D and calcium, among other nutrients).
Foods high in calcium:
-Celery
– Almonds
– Papaya
– Brazil nuts
– Broccoli
Foods high in vitamin D:
– Salmon
– Egg Yolk
– Tuna
– Sardines
– Cooked Mackerel