Milk consumption in schools offering plain milk only versus schools offering plain and flavored milk

Introduction: Policies to remove flavored milk from school lunches have engendered controversy. Supporters cite the importance of decreasing added sugars, while others believe this policy will compromise nutrition. Method: We compared milk consumption by grade and gender in two inner-city school districts in the northeastern United States. Both serve primarily low-income Hispanic and African-American students. The Experimental district (enrolment in two study elementary schools = 1051) removed flavored milk for the 2010-2011 school year, offering only plain 1% milk, while the Control district (enrolment = 1582) offered both plain 1% and flavored ½% milk. Data were collected twice monthly (capturing days on which fruit and juice were offered) throughout the year. Post-meal milk and juice containers were weighed. Meal component choices were documented for all lunches. Results: More milk was consumed when juice was not offered (p < .01). During the first study month, plain milk was taken with 55% of meals in the Experimental district; 14% of these cartons remained unopened. In the Control district, plain milk was taken with 14% of meals (19% unopened), and flavored milk with 69% (16% unopened). When milk was taken, 52% of the carton was consumed in the Experimental district, while 43% and 54% of plain and flavored milk, respectively, was consumed in the Control district. Year-long consumption trends by grade and gender will be presented, and nutritional analysis of meal components discussed. Discussion: Data will inform the current debate on the nutritional impact of removing flavored milk from the lunch room.