Do Schools Still Serve Milk?

When my daughter was in elementary school, I pushed and pushed and pushed her to drink more milk. As a nutrition writer, I knew that skim milk would help her bones bulk up on the strengthening calcium they so dearly needed. And reluctantly, she drank what I put in front of her...until middle school, when she really started balking.

She asked why she had to drink so much milk when her friends drank none. I, of course, assumed that was hyperbole. So, I started naming her friends, and in each case she told me that didn't like milk--and didn't drink it.

As an attempt to prove her wrong, I suggested that her science research project that year should involve querying dozens of her classmates about what they drank, how much, and where they consumed it. She passed out the questionnaires, and I sat with her going over the results when she got them back. No one drank more than a glass of milk a day, and those who did probably amounted to no more than 10 percent of the total--3 to 5 youngsters.

My daughter informed me that most days her school didn't even offer milk in its lunch line. I had her interview the cafeteria manager about milk availability and sales. Sure enough, that woman confirmed that her cafeteria didn't always carry milk; so few children wanted it that it wasn't worth taking up the refrigerated space, she told my daughter.

In high school, my child underwent a sudden and miraculous transformation. She started guzzling milk and reaching for heaping plates of fresh fruits and veggies on a daily basis. However, she also noted that she could only get milk at home because her school kept skim milk in the back--only bringing it out on demand. Cafeteria workers, overtaxed by feeding 1,000 students per lunch period each day, were reluctant to make a special trip to get her skim milk.

What did the other kids drink? Soda pop, sports drinks, and sometimes bottled water.

The reason for this post: Yesterday, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies issued a new report, "Nutrition Standards for Foods in Schools--Leading the Way Toward Healthier Youth." In it, the IOM argues that certain foods should be available in schools and their consumption encouraged for youth of all ages. Among these were low-fat or skim milk products. It would restrict sales of caffeinefree and no-calorie soft drinks to high schools--and recommends they be available only during after-school hours. Sugar-sweetened soft drinks and sugar-added fruit juices would be no-no's.

Okay, I grew up in the Dark Ages, when the only drinks available in school cafeterias were one-cup servings of white or chocolate milk. But how did we come to the point where schools have to be told by an august national health organization like IOM that it's time to start offering milk again? Shouldn't they already know this?