5 Reasons Your Child Should Grab Milk with School Lunch
The number of beverage options available today is staggering. This is true even when it comes to lunch at school. Whether your child takes a packed lunch from home or buys lunch in the cafeteria, they have lots of beverage options available to them. The best beverage choice for kids at school is milk. Here are five reasons why:
- Supports growing bones. We all want our kids to reach their full height potential. Milk contains calcium and phosphorus, which are both important in building strong bones. It is important that kids and teens consume 3 dairy servings each day to fill their calcium stores.
- Nutrient dense. Milk has 9 essential nutrients, including protein that kids need. Sports drinks, fruit juices and soda pop may contribute one or 2 nutrients, but they have added sugar and don’t provide as much nutrition for the calories as milk.
- Goes great with meals. To help students get all the nutrition they need, it is important to drink milk with most meals. Water is important for healthy bodies and is a great choice between meals for hydration.
- Refreshingly cold. Whether you bring lunch from home or buy one in the school cafeteria, milk at school is kept cold. Cold milk tastes better! Milk needs to be kept cold to stay fresh. Trust the school’s dedicated food service professionals to take care of that job for you.
- Supports local farmers. Did you know there are over 1,500 dairy farms in the state of Michigan and 97% of those are family owned? Dairy is an important business in our state. Every container of fluid milk has at code that tells you where the milk came from. Look for a two- digit code, followed by a three- digit code near the best-by date. Michigan’s code is “26.” Drinking local milk is a great way to support our farmers.
Are you interested in learning more about milk, nutrition and meeting a dairy farm family? Please visit milkmeansmore.org