It’s dairy, quite contrary as chocolate milk on outs again
New Food Guide could end wars over sugary drink
Chocolate milk, along with fruit juice, is expected to get a thumbs down as healthy foods in the new Canadian Food Guide, set to be released this fall.
The last Food Guide, issued in 2007, termed chocolate milk a suitable alternative for dairy and juice an alternative to whole fruit, both of which were considered a healthy part of a daily diet.
But those recommendations became the focus of criticism, with Ottawa obesity expert Yoni Freedhoff terming the 2007 food guide “obesigenic,” partly based on chocolate milk.
Whether chocolate milk should be regularly offered in schools became an issue in the recent New Brunwick election. The Conservatives, who won 22 seats, vowed to relax nutrition guidelines in the province’s schools. The Liberals, who won 21 seats, vowed to ban chocolate milk in schools, along with other sugary drinks.
Freedhoff, who was part of a panel on the upcoming Food Guide at a Centre for Health Science and Law conference Tuesday in Ottawa, said a clear statement from the federal government about chocolate milk would settle the debate about chocolate milk in school.
“I would be flabbergasted if the new Food Guide did not state that sugar sweetened milks are beverages that should be explicitly limited in children. Should it say that, it would follow that school chocolate milk programs would be on school boards’ chopping blocks — though I’d also bet it will take a fair bit of time until it is universally removed,” Freedhoff said.
The people drafting the new Food Guide did recommend chocolate milk and fruit juices be limited for children as part of its recommendations sent out for consultation.
But Hasan Hutchinson, who is the director general of the office of nutrition policy and promotion at Health Canada, said nothing is final until the guide is approved and released.
Freedhoff, founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa, called the idea that children should be offered chocolate milk daily “backwards.” A small, 250 ml chocolate milk carton, consumed daily during a 180-day school year, provides a child with 10 pounds, or 24 cups, of sugar, he said. Chocolate milk has double the sugar and double the calories of Coke and Gatorade, although it contains more nutrients.
Considering chocolate milk a reasonable alternative to milk products, he said, is like considering apple pie an alternative to an apple.
“If you wouldn’t give a kid who doesn’t like applies pie every day, perhaps you shouldn’t give that same kid chocolate milk every day.”
The re-think of chocolate milk and fruit juice is just a small part of the new, updated and redefined guide, expected to be released in several parts beginning later this year.
Hutchinson said the new guide will be dramatically different from the six-page document with a graphic rainbow design on front that was released in 2007.
“We were hearing the existing Food Guide was not enough detail for policy-makers and way too much detail for most Canadians. We have gone in quite a different direction,” he said.
“We decided to explode it apart and instead of having one six pager we will have a whole suite of food guide products.”
The guide will no longer contain recommended portion sizes, said Hutchinson.
“We heard very strongly from people that they just found that confusing and we heard from dietitians that is what people had the most trouble with.”
The new Food Guide will focus on proportions, rather than portion sizes, he said. “If we could get people to make half their plates fruit and vegetables, I think a lot of the problems would go away.”