Banning chocolate milk backfires

Banning chocolate milk from elementary schools can have negative consequences on children's nutrition as well as on sales in school cafeterias, a Cornell University study has found.

“When schools ban chocolate milk, we found it usually backfires. On average, milk sales drop by 10 percent, 29 percent of white milk gets thrown out, and participation in the school lunch program may also decrease,” reported Andrew Hanks, lead author and research associate Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. “This is probably not what parents wanted to see.”

The study examined 11 Oregon elementary schools and found that although kids were taking in less sugar and fewer calories, they also began giving up milk entirely, and as a result, consumed less calcium and protein.

Brian Wansink, co-author of the study, proposed changing the way regular milk is presented rather than banning chocolate milk.


“Instead of banning chocolate milk, make white milk appear more convenient and more ‘normal,’” Wansink said in a statement. “Put the white milk in the front of the cooler, and make sure that at least one-third to half of all the milk is white. We’ve found that this approach can increase sales by 20 percent or more."