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Do you think dairy companies should be funding coffee shops in high schools?
Article
Somewhere in the U.S., a teenager is running on empty. She's slouching over Cheerios. She's dreading an upcoming math test. For some teens, it's not homework but social media that's the snooze-stealer. But there's a new effort to save students from sleepiness. And it includes espressos, lattes, and café au laits. Hooray!
Past high schoolers might not have heard these words every day. And definitely not in their school hallways! But between locker slams and stairwell traffic jams, some of today's teens are now buying caffeine drinks at school.
Dairy companies suffered a blow after the rise of almond, oat, and soy drinks. So milk-makers are looking to bring in moo-re money. In North Dakota, a $5,000 grant from a dairy group helped pay for a school espresso machine. It makes lattes with about 8 ounces (about 237 milliliters) of milk. Student baristas used 530 gallons (about 2,006 liters) of milk in one year. That's an udder-ly large amount!
The answer to the age-old slogan "Got Milk?" might increasingly be "nope." But veganism isn't necessarily to blame. Milk consumption has gone down the drain. By 40 percent since 1975, in fact! Ideas about health have changed, too. Dietary fat is no longer seen as evil. So people are skimping on the skim milk.
Dairy companies are hoping to make milk go down more easily. Enter lattes and milkshakes!
"We're just exploring everything we can," said Organic Valley's former CEO George Siemon. (He's since stepped down.)
Schools still have to follow nutrition rules. Because of this, coffee drinks at school are much healthier than the lattes students would get elsewhere. Those are often filled with tons of sugar and calories. What about the coffee drinks served at schools? They can be no bigger than 12 ounces (about 355 milliliters). They must contain fat-free or 1 percent milk. And they can't be more than 150 calories.
Nobody's complainin' about getting healthy milk into growing teens' bodies. But it's not all smiles at school.
Skepticism surrounds teenagers slurping caffeine. The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages young people from drinking it. That's because caffeine could have harmful effects on developing bodies. Sure, dairy is a great way to get nutrients like calcium, protein, and vitamin D. But it's not the only way to get them.
One doctor noted that students can get nutrients from milk and other dairy products without promoting caffeine. After all, drinking caffeine can lead to headaches, agitation, and lack of sleep. No fun!
"If they're going to be having that outside of school, that's one thing. But in schools, the idea is to promote good health and nutrition," the doctor said.
More schools are seeking to serve tired but wired teens. But the dairy industry still struggles to teach teens about sources of calcium and other important nutrients. Almond drinks don't naturally contain calcium. Most fall far short of what a growing teen body needs. But guess what some school coffee shops have started offering?