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The BP wants chocolate milk out of public schools

September 20, 2019 Kelly Mena
Screencap via the Brooklyn Borough President's Office
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It’s Friday, and Brooklyn Borough President and mayoral hopeful Eric Adams wants you to know that he is on board with the effort to ban chocolate milk from the city’s public schools.

In a video (called “Chocolate Milk: Do the Math”) sent out from Adams’ office Friday afternoon, the BP sits at a table measuring out the sugar contents of a tall glass of chocolate milk. In a voiceover, he tells the viewer that “while this [ban] might sound extreme to some people, the stats say differently.”

One glass of chocolate milk, Adams demonstrates, comes out to three to four teaspoons of sugar. The American Heart Association, however, recommends that children consume no more than six teaspoons of added sugar a day.

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Adams shakes his head at the pile of sugar in front of him and reaches for a glass of water, instead.

“Chocolate milk is loaded with extra sugar that can cause Type 2 diabetes and obesity, among other health issues,” Adams, who fought diabetes himself, said in a press release.

“Yet we continue to serve it in our schools. Instead of serving our children drinks that set them up for a lifetime of health problems, we should be giving them better options, such as water. Seventy percent of children have early signs of heart disease. We can’t continue to feed the health care crisis in this city.”

The video doubles down on recent efforts from other lawmakers and New York City School Chancellor Richard Carranza to get rid of the sugary option in favor of a plain-milk-only policy.

“The thinking is that these kids are already getting too much sugar, why are they getting it in their milk?’’ one Department of Education source said to the New York Post, adding that higher-ups “are discussing what to do and how to do it.’’

Adams himself in recent years has converted to a vegan diet, a daily exercise routine and has been outspoken about giving school aged children healthier options when it comes to school lunch. Most recently he successfully helped eliminate processed meats from cafeteria menus.

The ban doesn’t have many fans among students, who have come to love the sugary milk option as part of a regular school lunch.

“I love chocolate, but it’s better with milk. I love it this much,” said Ellis Blackwell, a 6-year-old student at P.S./I.S. 30, spreading her hands far apart to demonstrate. “I would be sad if they took it away.”


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7 Comments

  1. Roger McGowan

    What about the fact that chocolate milk is recommended source to restore electrolytes in an emergency, if totally removed it won’t be available for a school nurse to use if necessary. Not against the reduction of sugar, but from the overall menu, not just eliminating one item, that’s as bad as Reagan’s catsup (ketchup) as a vegetable, over reacting to any food product is ridiculous improved the menus so more children want eat the total meal rather then high “liked” items. (Chef since 1958)

    September 23, 2019 at 9:07 am
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  2. Brendan Ryan

    Once again liberals show just how dumb they are by equating the consumption of chocolate milk as unhealthy or the cause of obesity! The main goal is consumption, chocolate milk is a nutrient dense product and each sip has major benefits to a growing body. The additional calories are roughly 13 more from 1% milk, and they think 65kcal from chocolate milk in a week is why the kid is fat, idiots!! But now the child is not drinking milk at all because most children don’t drink 1% milk, so how is this better??

    February 1, 2022 at 11:15 am
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