There has been a debate that has caught people’s eye. It has caused a lot of heat surrounding the topic. It is the debate over whether chocolate milk should be banned from school. By looking over both sides of the debate, even going deep into articles, it is true that chocolate milk should get out of schools this instant. There are plenty of reasons why, such as sugar, the effects on health, and even mental habits.

One clear reason that chocolate milk should leave school is the sugar content. This is quite a popular and obvious reason. In the text “Chocolate Milk: More Harmful Than Healthful” by Jonathan Smith, it talks about how chocolate milk should be banned in schools. Smith talks about how high the sugar content is (even comparing it to Coca-cola), the amount kids drink, and how people have already banned it in some places. One sentence states “One tiny carton of chocolate milk has approximately 30 grams of sugar. That’s more than a can of soda — and you wouldn’t see schools handing out Coca-cola (Smith, pg 1).” As it states sugar wise, kids would be better off drinking soda than chocolate milk. In addition, the amount of chocolate milk children drink in school is through the roof! In the article that was just mentioned it says, “Some children consume as many as 10 or even 15 cartons of chocolate milk in a week at school (Smith, pg 1).”

By doing some quick math, that means kids drink nearly 300-350 grams of sugar just at school. Not to mention this is the weekly amount! What about the chocolate milk at home? This sugar overload may cause various health problems linked to obesity. In Smith’s article, he mentions Jamie Oliver. Jamie Oliver is a food lover and activist with a campaign against chocolate milk in schools. He also has a website. According to his website it states, “When kids drink chocolate or strawberry milk at school everyday, they’re getting nearly two gallons of extra sugar each year.” This can be detrimental to a developing child’s health. Causing childhood obesity and other health problems.

This could be a rant about the sugar content in chocolate milk, but that wouldn’t prove a point. Besides, sugar isn’t the only bad thing contained in chocolate milk. Chocolate milk has a variety of other bad ingredients such as fat, additives like carrageenan, and caffeine. Some people might say “Well, chocolate milk still has vitamins and nutrients like regular milk.” Though this is true, plain milk still has double the vitamins, calcium, and protein as chocolate milk. Another question you might ask is “what is carrageenan?” Carrageenan, an ingredient found in most chocolate milk is “a family of linear sulfated polysaccharides that are extracted from red edible seaweeds.

They are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, and stabilizing properties (Wikipedia, March 2020).” Carrageenan might not seem bad, but “Degraded carrageenan, or poligeenan, is not safe to eat. Research in animals indicates that it causes gut tumors and ulcers, and may even trigger colon cancer. Some scientists are concerned that food-grade carrageenan is also dangerous (Medical News Today, March 2020).” This only occurs in the chocolate milk though. So regular milk is safe.

Moving on. The fat content in chocolate milk is quite a bit. Nearly 9 grams of fat per carton, to be exact. That means kids get 80-120 grams of fat weekly. The recommended fat intake for elementary school children is 69-77 grams per week. If kids get overweight from this fat intake, it can carry into adulthood causing possible heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. On top of that, kids might not have the motivation to exercise if it goes too far. This is because the weight from the fat might push on the chest making it more difficult to breath, which causes less exercise which is a domino effect. There also might be the issue with there not being the right conditions to exercise (like environment or time).

There is a lot of evidence that chocolate milk can damage children’s bodies, but what about their minds? If kids take in the 10-15 cartons of chocolate milk in a week at school mentioned earlier, this may cause kids to turn picky. Why you ask? In school when kids take in a lot of sugar (this “sugar” being chocolate milk) can cause kids to grow a fondness, an addiction if you will, to the chocolaty sweet demon in disguise. This can make kids only want sugar and turn down regular milk. This can grow into other healthy items in the lunchroom, like the salad bar or fruit cups. This gigantic consumption of the “holy” chocolate drink may also make kids think that it’s okay to drink all the sugar they do in school. This is so because children grow up to think that school is a place where whatever an adult says is almost always right, and most teachers or adult figures say that chocolate milk is healthy and to drink more of it (it is not healthy!) This mindset may stick with them into adulthood and get into other sugary foods.

Both sides of the chocolate milk debate bring strong evidence to the plate, being serious with their efforts. But the anti chocolate milk argument in schools brings stronger evidence overall. Lets stop this chocolaty sweet demon in disguise before all kids fall for this. Make a website, start a riot, burn down the milk company for all I care! But please, stop this issue. I rest my case.