Jamie, Jamie, Jamie…don’t make me dislike you.  I’ve written positively about you in the past but you’re really starting to get on my nerves. 


Your latest stunt, convincing LA County school administrators to ban chocolate milk in schools may seem like a good idea to the average person but it won’t do a darn thing to improve the health of children. In fact, it could even hurt kids who don’t normally get much milk.


Covering the Jamie’s chocolate milk crusade, the Washington Post reported last week (h/t: Center for Consumer Freedom) that if you take flavored milk off the menu, consumption of milk by children will go down by 37 percent.


Ed Bruske, a respected blogger who focuses on government feeding programs, takes issue with the study, claiming because it was funded by the milk industry, it must be tainted (I wonder if he has the same concerns with Michelle Obama’s ties to big labor and her pushing for more funding for school lunch programs–programs filled with SEIU employees).


But I digress.  Bruske might challenge the study’s conclusions and he might have a point about the milk industry trying to secure a huge source of their market (the school lunch) but what Bruske doesn’t offer is what he wants these kids to drink in place of milk.  What does Bruske see as an acceptable alternative to milk? Does he prefer kids to drink a soda?  A sugary fruit drink?  How about an iced coffee? 


Chocolate milk might not be the ideal drink but let’s not forget, it is chocolate added to MILK. 


Bruske even challenges the idea that kids need milk saying “milk isn’t the only way to get calcium. It’s available in lots of other foods.” 


Well, yes, calcium is in a lot of other foods–like cheese, sour cream, pudding, ice cream, mozzarella cheese generously sprinkled on pizza.  Which of these high-fat alternatives would Bruske choose in place of a glass of chocolate milk? 


And Brukse seems to forget that milk has nutrients other than calcium–nutrients children need.


I’m sure many food nannies sit in their offices dreaming of school children and their glasses of sparkling water, but I’m pretty sure water is both calorie and nutrient free. 


What good is that? 


I say, keep the chocolate milk, lose the food nannies.