The debate centers around school lunch and the longtime promotion that milk builds strong bones.

Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the PCRM, (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) has stated that, “Research has now made it abundantly clear that milk doesn’t build strong bones. Whether we are talking about children who are forming bones or older people who are trying to keep their bone integrity, milk doesn’t have a beneficial effect on either one.”

The promotion of milk to help build strong bones in kids is, “in effect, the promotion of an ineffective placebo,” writes the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) in its petition [PDF]. “Milk is high in sugar, high in fat and high in animal protein” — all of which counters its purported benefits to bone health, the committee argues.

The PCRM notes that dairy products, including milk, are the No. 1 source of saturated fat in Americans’ diets. Drinking milk for the calcium it contains is therefore a losing strategy, especially since people can get their daily recommended calcium from other, more nutritious foods. And for millions of Americans who are allergic to milk — including 1.3 million children — or intolerant to the lactose it contains, drinking milk carries potentially severe health risks.

Kids who drink flavored milk will be ingesting fewer calories and less sugar this year.

As the school is about to start moms can rest a little easier knowing that their children wont be subject to mind bending amounts of sugar.

Excess sugar has been linked to childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes and a host behavioral problems in kids.

This is a small step in the right direction especially for kids who rely on school lunches as their primary source of nutrition.

Cartons of flavored milk will carry just 31 more calories than white milk as the result of a five-year process of industry reformulations aiming to “provide nutritious new products with the same great taste kids love,” said MilkPEP.

The healthy trend among milk processors will reduce added sugar in fat-free and low-fat chocolate milk by 38 percent.

“There are a lot of kids that don’t want to drink plain white milk; they really love drinking flavored milk and that’s very important for the essential nutrients in milk,” said MilkPEP CEO Vivien Godfrey. “It’s a happy balance between some added sugars but making sure that the kids actually drink the milk as opposed to taking the white milk on the lunch line and not in fact drinking it.”

Milk is good for our kids because it contains vitamin D, calcium and it’s a good source of protein.

The dilemma about the milk is when we add artificial ingredients such as food coloring, dyes, stabilizers and preservatives.

The most popular flavors among kids, chocolate and strawberry, also come along with sugars including high fructose corn syrup.

The best choice for chocolate milk in our schools would be healthy organic milk form grass fed cows and natural raw sugars.

Keep our milk clean, keep away from rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone), GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), antibiotics and high fructose corn syrup which definitely endanger everyone’s health.

The alarm was sounded on Wednesday, when federal officials announced that tests had detected a trace amount of iodine 131 in milk.

Although we may never know the extent of radiation exposure to the food supply; the alarm hasn’t gone off.

Be reasonably cautious about food purchases.

“I’ve had members call to ask whether we’ve seen the media, and media calling to ask how this is impacting our members,” said Michael Marsh, the chief executive of Western United Dairymen, the milk industry’s West Coast trade association. Mr. Marsh said he had repeated the assurances given by officials, but he also understood the fears in the supermarket’s refrigerated aisle.