Milk Facts

Here are some facts about milk and kids, compiled by Lyn Halvorson, SNS, the school nutrition director for the Winona Area Public Schools:

• More than half of the children ages 2-8 do not get the recommended daily servings of dairy.
• More than three-quarters of the children ages 9-19 do not get the recommended daily servings of dairy.
• The National Dairy Council, the School Nutrition Association, and the School Nutrition Foundation conducted a study and found that 97% of schools offer flavored milk. Over 70% of the milk consumed in schools is flavored.
• Virtually all the calories in 100% juice and nearly one-half the calories in unflavored milk is from naturally-occurring sugars. See handout; fat-free white and 1% white contain 12 grams of naturally-occurring sugar, chocolate skim contains 26 grams (12 grams of naturally-occurring sugar and 14 grams of added sugar).
• The importance of providing children with milk they like, and therefore will drink, was highlighted by the 2002 School Milk Pilot Test, which demonstrated that with simple product improvements – including flavors and packaging – milk consumption increased 37%.
• A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, showed that when compared to their peers, children who drank flavored milk drank more milk overall and are more likely to meet their calcium needs than those who did not.
• Frank Greer, MD, FAAP, Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition states, “The AAP recommends that children eat three servings of milk, flavored milk, cheese or yogurt a day.”
• Robert P. Heaney, MD, Professor at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska takes a realistic approach to flavored milk. “I favor milk consumption because of its many nutritional benefits. If there is a choices between flavored milk and no milk, there shouldn’t be any difficulty there; you have to go with the flavored milk because that is where you are going to get the nutrient package that you need.”
• The kids who drank flavored milk in their diets reported higher milk intakes than those who drank plain milk. Source; Nutrient intakes and body measures of children and adolescents in the United States drinking flavored, plain or no milk. FASEB J 21:833.3
• When it comes to flavored milk, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetics Association and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans Committee agree that the added sugar in flavored milk does not negate milk’s many benefits. Specifically in regard to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), there is very little different between sucrose, which is granulated sugar, and HFCS. Once absorbed, they are indistinguishable to the human body.
• In a recent survey among 4,000 3 A-Day of Dairy moms, 92% said that they were comfortable with their children drinking flavored milk at school.