Testiinony of Aiclan Kohn Murphy, June 1.

1, 2011

TESTIMONY OF AIDAN K O H N MURPHY, LAFAYETTE ELEMENTARY, GRADE 1 BEFORE THE D . C . COUNCIL, COMMITTEE OF THE W H O L E , YOUTH ISSUES 1 1 JUNE 2 0 1 1

Introduction Hi, I'm Aidan Kohn Murphy. I'm seven years old and I'm at the end of First Grade. I go to Lafayette Elementary. Thank you for letting me go in front of you today. I'm here today because I want to get chocolate milk back in DC Public Schools. We used to have chocolate milk in DC Public schools. But then you passed a law that said that no kids in DC Public Schools could buy chocolate milk. They could buy only white milk. Thank you, Council members for trying to make kids healthy. But, the law isn't working in the way the Council wanted it to. To get ready for today, 1 went around asking lots of people questions at my school. Me and my mom put all the data together. We did a lot of research and 1 interviewed a doctor. And we thought things over a lot. I would like to say three things today: 1 ] The law has not worked; 2) If you just give chocolate milk back, kids might actually be healthier than now: chocolate milk can be healthy; and 3) A lot of people in DC want chocolate milk back in the DC Public Schools

The Law has Not Worked as Intended Here are the things I learned about my first point: When you passed this law, you were trying to keep kids healthy by getting then to drink white milk instead of flavored milk. But the important thing I found is this: Taking away chocolate milk, surprisingly enough hasn't made kids drink more white milk! It actually in many cases makes kids drink sugarier things. As you can see on my chart, the kids who used to buy chocolate milk are not all that likely now to drink white milk instead. They most are often substituting water. Then nothing. Then juice. And then finally white milk.

Testimony i)f Aidan Kohn Murphy, June 11, 2!) 11

In fact, since the new law was passed, 58% of kids who used to drink chocolate milk at school are no longer drinking any dairy product at school. They are missing out on all that calcium that they used to get. Kids can Stay Healthy while Drinking Chocolate Milk First of all, there are a lot healthy things about chocolate milk. It has calcium and vitamins. It's true - the chocolate can be unhealthy because it may have fat and more sugar. But, they can make chocolate milk that is low fat with less sugar. In fact, this type of chocolate milk has led Fairfax County to bring back chocolate milk. In Fairfax County Virginia, they took chocolate milk away and then they gave it back. They found a low fat, skimmed version of chocolate milk and it includes a healthier kind of sugar. D.C. can have the same kind of healthier chocolate milk. And medical experts agree that chocolate milk can keep kids healthy. I interviewed a doctor and I asked her "How do you feel about kids drinking chocolate milk in D.C. Public Schools?" Her answer was: "I think that chocolate milk is much better than drinking soda because it has protein and calcium. It has more milk than chocolate in it...I think chocolate milk is medium healthy. Calcium and protein are good - but the sugar is not good. Low fat is better than high fat milk." Then I asked her: "Is it better to drink chocolate milk or no milk at all?" She said: "It's better to drink chocolate milk." I also asked her: "How about chocolate milk compared to juice?" She said: "There is more real food in chocolate milk than in most juice. I think chocolate milk is probably better than the sugary sodas and the sugary drinks like Gatorade - but skim milk is the best. I think that if they were able to get skim and less sugar chocolate milk, it would be great." And that's exactly what we can have in DCPS! And the USDA agrees. Just on May 1 9 , 2 0 1 1 , the WASHINGTON POST wrote that a USDA nutritionist said: "The guidelines give chocolate milk and other flavor varieties the thumbs up. If it's the deciding factor on whether someone is going to drink milk or not, we'd rather have them consume the milk and the nutrient package with the extra sugar." A lot of People want Chocolate Milk Back My third point is: A lot of people want chocolate milk back. 1 surveyed 432 kids, teachers, and staff all together. All of the teachers except for two said they wanted

chocolate milk back. Here is a quote by one teacher: "The children like chocolate milk and at least they have another choice instead of nothing." 84% of kids want chocolate milk back - that's 345 out of 410. Conclusion I know your job is to take care of DC and to represent what we want. The interest of Lafayette Elementary is to get chocolate milk back. The last thing I want to say is.... You were trying to do a good thing when you took chocolate milk away. But it isn't working. You can make kids healthy and represent what people want at the same time if you give chocolate milk back. Thank you so much for letting me speak to you.

Testimony of Aidan Kohn M u r p h y , June 11, 2011 Attachment 1

Previously Drank Choc Milk? Total Responses Yes No n/a Juice

If Prev. Drank Choc Milk, What Drink Now?^ White Mill< Water Nothing Choc Mill< Total Responses

Want Choc Milk Back? No Yes No Pref

Pre-K

Numbers

70

60

10

Kindergarten

Numbers

20

20

12

1st Graders

Numbers

47

28

16

10

14

13

47

41

2nd Graders

Numbers

57

33

21

10

11

57

44

3rd Graders

Numbers

53

43

17

19

34

12

17

53

47

4th Graders

Numbers

89

67

18

35

23

29

38

17

89

80

5th Graders

Numbers

55

40

11

14

20

55

46

Miscellaneous^ Numbers

19

13

19

15

Totals

Numbers Percentage

340

231 68%

83 24%

26 8%

80 21%

77 20%

107 28%

91 24%

61 16%

410

345 84%

46 11%

19 5%

^ Because children provided multiple alternatives to chocolate milk, total number of alternative beverages exceeds total number of survey responses ^ Some children filled out surveys and did not specify grade

Tesriniony of Aidan. .Kolui Murphy, fune 1.1, 20.11 Attachment 2

Teacher Responses to Chocolate Milk Survey Do you want Chocolate Milk Back? Numbers Percentage Total Yes No No preference

22

18 82%

2 9%

2 9%

Of the children who used to drink Chocolate Milk, how many no longer drink any Milk Product? (This data is based on a smaller sample because of the way children filled out the Children who used to drink chocolate milk Children who still drink a milk product at lunch (including chocolate milk brought from home) 49 42% Children who no longer drink a milk product at lunch survey)

Number Percentage

116

67 58%

Testimony of Aidan Kohn Murphy, June 11, 2011 Attachment 3

washingtonpostcom
The Washington Post April 12,2011 Tuesday Met 2 Edition

HEADLINE: Got (chocolate) milk?Got controversy. BYLINE: Kevin Sieff BODY: It was once a staple of public school cafeterias that blended the indulgent and the nutritious, satisfying parents and children both. But chocolate milk is uncontroversial no more. Dozens of districts have demanded reformulations. Others have banned it outright. At the center of these battles are complex public health calculations: Is it better to remove sugary chocolate flavorings at the risk that many students will skip milk altogether, missing out on crucial calcium and Vitamin D? Or should schools instead make tweaks - less fat, different sweeteners, fewer calories - that might salvage the benefits while minimizing the downside? However schools answer these questions, protest inevitably follows. When Fairfax County and D.C. schools banned chocolate milk last year from elementary lunch lines, officials heard not just from parents and sttidents. They also received letters and petitions from a slew of nutritionists and influential special interest groups. Most accused the districts of acting rashly, robbing students of a tasty drink and the vitamins and minerals that ftiel bone and muscle growth. "We got 10 to 20 e-mails a day," said Penny McConnell, director of food and nutrition services for Fairfax. "It was a lot of pressure." This month - and partly because of that pressure - Fairfax officials announced that they would reintroduce chocolate milk in school cafeterias. The newer, low-fat version includes sucrose, which is made from sugar cane or beets, instead of high-fructose com syrup, which some critics say is more heavily processed and, as a result, less healthy. Such reformulations have satisfied some of chocolate milk's critics. But most scientists and nutritionists, including those employed by local school districts, say that changing sweeteners makes little dietary difference i f the total calorie content stays the same. This is a view embraced by the Com Refiners Association, which often finds itself on the losing side of such changes. "Why should school districts pay more for one sweetener when children's bodies can't tell the difference?" said Audrae Erickson, the group's president. Several other school districts in the Washington area are changing the formulations of their chocolate milk to switch sweeteners and lessen fat and sugar. But most continue to make it available to sttidents. D.C. schools have resisted the push to restore chocolate milk to their cafeterias. The stakes are high because more than 70 percent of the milk distributed in school cafeterias is flavored, according to the M i l k Processor Education Program, an industry group. And the formulations used in many cafeterias across the country have more calories, ounce for ounce, than Coke. Such statistics have drawn the attention of those lobbying for healthier school lunches at a time of rising obesity among children. Parents in many districts have been vocal.

Testinioiiy or Aidan Kohn Murphy, jirne 11, 2011 At ta<:l! merit 3

"If we want to fix childhood obesity, chocolate milk is just one of the things we need to get rid of" said Jeff A n derson, a parent of three students at Wolftrap Elementary in Vienna and a member of Real Food for Kids, a Fairfax area advocacy group. "It's a treat, not something you have every day with lunch." Nutritionists, though, have split between those who think chocolate milk is worth the payoff in nutrients and those who don't. "Trying to get students to consume calcium by drinking chocolate milk is like getting them to eat apples by serving them apple pie," said Ann Cooper, a leading advocate for healthy school lunches. The catch is that when schools remove flavored milk, students drink less milk. The milk processors' group puts the number at 37 percent less milk overall. Based on such statistics, the National Dairy Council has launched its Raise Your Hand for Chocolate M i l k campaign. "Chocolate milk is the most popular milk choice in schools," according to the campaign's pitch, "and kids will drink less milk and get fewer nutrients i f it's taken away." Sandwiched between concerned parents and vocal industry representatives are school districts such as Fairfax, which must also consider the tastes of their young consumers. In November, when trying to create a chocolate milk formula that satisfied as many parties as possible, the district held a "taste party" at Lane Elementary School in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. "Tastes really chocolatey," one student wrote on the survey distributed to 24 child-testers. "Really awesome," wrote another. Nearly all of the students liked the new milk, but school officials decided it was too much of a good thing. They cut two grams of sugar from the formulation - going from 24 grams per half-pint container to 22 grams - and decided against retesting it. The new formula, created by Dallas-based Dean Foods, is complete. Fairfax will soon be joined by several other Washington area school districts in introducing the new milk this month. Dean Foods, one of several chocolate milk suppliers across the country, sells 144 million gallons of chocolate milk in cafeterias. It's a relatively modest but symbolic part of the company's sales, said company spokesman Jamaison Schuler. "This is not just a part of our business; it's a part of our legacy." Jostled by the new politics of school lunch, Fairfax officials have vacillated over other staples. This year, for example, they removed sah from pretzels, but weeks later they were coaxed into putting it back. " A l l of a sudden, everyone who eats is a nutritionist," McConnell said. "It makes our job a lot more difficuU." sieffk@washpost.com

Testimony of Aidan Kahn Ivlurphy, Jisne 11,2011 Attachment 4

Copyright 2011 The Washington Post A l l Rights Reserved

NAdshingtonposteom
The Washington Post May 19, 2011 Thursday Every Edition

HEADLINE: Dear dairy, M om was right about you . . . BYLINE: Jennifer LaRue Huget If you were inventing a perfect food, it might look something like skim milk. Packed with calcium, protein, potassium, magnesium and vitamins A and D, it has no saturated fat and contains just 90 calories per cup. That neat package of nutrients is the reason the federal government, through its 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, suggests you add more milk and milk products, particularly reduced-fat varieties, to your diet. Just as Mom always told you, the stuff is good for your bones. Turns out it's good for the rest of your body, too. Greg Miller, executive vice president of science and research for the National Dairy Council, says milk is "the number one food source" of three of the four nutrients that the guidelines say Americans need more of: calcium, potassium and Vitamin D. (Fiber's the fourth; alas, milk has none.) M i l k comes by the first two naturally; almost all milk sold in the United States is fortified with Vitamin D . localliving@washpost.com This column is part of a series about incorporating the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans into your diet. Test your knowledge How many cups of milk or milk products should you consume per day? A. 3 B. 4 C. 8 Answer: A . The guidelines recommend three cups of low- or nonfat milk or milk products for people age 9 and older. The typical U.S. adult consumes only half that amount. What constitutes a dairy food, according to the dietary guidelines? A. Milk, cream and cheese B. Milk, yogurt, cheese and eggs C. Milk, yogurt, cheese and ice cream Answer: C. The new "milk and milk products" category includes milk, yogurt, frozen yogurt, dairy desserts (such as ice cream) and cheese. Cream doesn't count. The guidelines explain that "cream, sour cream and cream cheese are not included due to their low calcium content." Soy milk is part of the guidelines' dairy group.

Testimony of Aidan Kohn Murphy, June 11, 2011 Atladiment 4

A. True B. False Answer: A . "New with this set of guidelines, soy milk, which is essentially a plant-based milk, is a full-fledged member of the dairy group," says Trish Britten, a nutritionist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. That's good for vegetarians and for people with lactose intolerance, because fortified soy milk "is similar to milk across a range of nutrients." What is skim milk? A. Whole milk that's diluted with water to make it less fattening B. The milk that's left after the fat is skimmed away from whole milk C. M i l k that comes from specially bred, leaner cows Answer: B . USDA-sponsored focus groups have shown that some people believe skim milk is just full-fat milk with water added, says Jackie Haven, director of nutrition marketing and communication for the U S D A . In fact, skim milk is what's left when the fat is skimmed away from whole milk. The key nutrients remain intact. Which has more calcium? A. Greek yogurt B. Regular yogurt Answer: B. Regular yogurt is generally higher in calcium. Greek yogurt, which is made by draming most of the liquid from regular yogurt, has more protein, says Greg Miller of the National Dairy Council. Benefits of milk Your health. M i l k consumption is associated with bone health in children and adolescents, the guidelines say. Among adults, drinking milk may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes and may help lower blood pressure. Workout recovery. Research has shown that milk, especially chocolate milk with its exfra calories and carbs, is an excellent post-workout recovery drink. It's cheap. For folks on a budget, you can't beat milk. A gallon of milk costs about $4.39 and provides 16 one-cup servings, for 27 cents per serving. Consumer concerns Shopping for milk. Look for skim (nonfat) or 1 percent (low fat). Both deliver all the nutrients whole (full-fat) milk offers but with substantially less saturated fat, and therefore fewer calories. (Reduced-fat milk, with 2 percent fat, and whole milk outsell the lower-fat versions.) Chocolate milk is okay. Despite the controversy over whether sweetened, flavored milk should be served in schools, the guidelines give chocolate milk (and other flavored varieties) a thumbs-up. "If it's the deciding factor whether someone's going to drink milk or not, we'd rather have them consume the milk and the nufrient package, even with the extra sugar," says Colette Rihane, a U S D A nutritionist. "It just has to be balanced with the calorie intake for the rest of the day." Easy on the cheese. The guidelines note that cheese (mostly fiiU-fat) accounts for neariy half of the milk products Americans consume. Because of the way it is made, though, cheese contains way more sodium, fat and calories and far less potassium than low- or nonfat milk or yogurt, and usually no Vitamin D, says Trish Britten, a nutritionist with the USDA's Center for Nutrition PoUcy and Promotion. "We don't say 'Never eat cheese,'" she says, "but low-fat milk and yogurt offer a better package." Go for yogurt. You don't have to rely solely on milk to meet your daily needs. Yogurt - particularly that made with low-fat or nonfat milk - fits the bill, too. If you choose sweetened varieties or those with sweetened finiit mixed in, be sure to account for the extra calories and sugar and cut back elsewhere. Adding dairy to your diet

Testimony of Aidan Kohn Murphy, |iine 11, 2011 Attadiinent 4

One way to meet your daily dairy needs is to have a cup of skim milk with every meal. If that's too boring, try these ways to add milk products to your diet, from Dee Sandquist, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Make a cheese quesadilla with a com or whole-wheat tortilla and reduced-fat cheese. Snack on a reduced-fat mozzarella stick. Blend plain yogurt and frozen berries for a treat "wdth the consistency of ice cream." Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in dips and salad dressings and to top baked potatoes. Instead of a juice box, pack an individual-serving carton of skim milk for your child's lunch. Use reduced-fat buttermilk or yogurt in baked goods and pancakes. Also, try adding a bit of powdered milk to the dry ingredients in place of some of the sugar. Use milk instead of water when making hot chocolate or heating canned soup. With the soup, though, heat it slowly to keep milk from curdling.