Here is the opening paragraph:

“A recent study conducted in 58 schools nationwide found that children choose flavored milk over unflavored milk nearly 70 percent of the time. And when flavored milk was not an option, milk consumption dropped.”

My immediate response to this: DUH!

Hmmm, lets think about this for a minute. Human beings are naturally and instinctively drawn to fast and “cheap” sources of fuel. Sugar and Fat are two fuels that meet this criteria. So, as a result, we tend to be drawn to foods offering us lots of “cheap” fuel and we tend to need pushing (from parents or that parental side of our minds, a.k.a. rational control) to make sure we eat foods that not as high in fats, sugars or other “cheap” fuels. So, given that children are renown for their ability to rationally control themselves, why isn’t it surprising that children “prefer” flavored milks over unflavored milk?

One of the things that puts this article over the edge is the fact that the whole spin of the study and resulting media outreach is that the study is being used as a justification for having flavored milks stocked and distributed in schools:

“Hopefully, school systems and parents will use information like this when making decisions about the kinds of milk they make available to students,” said Tony Banks, a commodity marketing specialist forVirginia Farm Bureau Federation. “Flavored milk is still milk, with all the nutritional benefits of regular milk, and milk is still among the most nutrient-dense food items available to children in schools.

“Even milk that has additional sugar because it is flavored can be a healthier beverage choice than sodas and some fruit drinks.”

The reasoning is that drinking flavored milk is better than drinking no milk at all. While it is true that flavored waters, soda/pop drinks, and other beverages contain more sugars, sweeteners, artificial flavorings and other “bad” stuff,  I don’t really buy into this argument. To me, it is about the same as saying that since red wine offers some potential health benefits, it is OK to drink red wine instead of eating the fruits and vegetables that offer the same health benefits. The problem is, the benefits offered by red wine or flavored milk are significantly less than the health detriments offered by everything else that is contained in the red wine or the flavored milk. Or, to put it another way, saying it is better to drink flavored milk over no milk at all is about the same as saying it is better to eat fastfood over canned or fresh vegetables. It just doesn’t make sense.

Also, to make one more point that should probably go into another blog, the purpose of the VA Farm Bureau and the Save Our Food sight is to help promote, protect and preserve local farming and food production in Virginia. Wouldn’t it be a better use of money to promote how local milk is  better for kids, the environment and the economy than promoting a type of consumption that is not necessarily good for kids and a product that tends to not come from local farms and is more commonly from larger industrial farms that are frequently out of state, especially when it comes to the foods that are offered in local schools?