Incorporating milk into your child’s diet is absolutely crucial. If you’re lucky, your child will readily drink their glass of milk. Most parents however, face a real challenge trying to incorporate milk in their child’s diet. Dilemma Dilemma! That’s when chocolate milk seems to come to the rescue. Most children who don’t particularly enjoy milk are more open to the idea of chocolate milk and most amusingly, do not associate ‘milk’ with chocolate milk. But is chocolate milk for kids healthy? This article discuses just that!
Based on a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, it was found that kids who drink milk – be it flavored or plain, are prone to consume more nutrients and even have a lower BMI compared to kids who don’t.
One of the primary health benefits of chocolate milk for kids is that promotes increased consumption of milk as opposed to plain milk. Adding flavoring to milk, that too chocolate is bound to promote high milk consumption!
An obvious benefit of chocolate milk is the supply of calcium that is provided! Once your child begins to enjoy chocolate milk, they will also be able to gain the daily recommended dose of calcium, abundant in milk, one glass of milk containing about 27mg of calcium. It is crucial for your child to have a healthy intake of calcium as these young years are the growing ages for your child, the calcium will therefore help secure your Childs health by making the bones and teeth stronger.
A not as widely known benefit of chocolate milk is the vitamin D that is provided. Chocolate is known to be fortified with Vitamin D which is very important as it is needed by the body for the proper absorption of calcium. Therefore chocolate and milk go hand in hand. Vitamin D is hard to attain due to the lack of sun exposure received by children, therefore now you can make sure your children steer clear from a deficiency of vitamin D by simply giving them a cup of chocolate milk.
Chocolate milk is also enriched with the much needed protein in order to help keep your child physically and mentally active. One cup of chocolate milk would be enough to help your child stay fit as this one cup contains about 7 to 8gm of protein.
Chocolate milk has also proved to help prevent diseases in older ages when had from early years. It helps combat against Cancer, Diabetes, Hypertension, Osteoporosis, Arthritis, tooth decay and other bone ailments. Chocolate milk is able to prevent these ailments due to its enriched nutrient content, most important being the Vitamin D and Calcium which help keep the bones strong.
