Senate Bill 48 proposes that “No child day care center, group day care home or family day care home shall provide milk with a milk fat content greater than one percent to any child two years of age or older…unless [it] is medically required.” This law would not apply to breast milk.

Parents are speaking out against the bill, pointing out that it is not the government’s place to interfere with the decisions they make about what to feed to their children – especially when it comes to a healthy, nutrient-rich food like milk.

“If I had an obese child, as a parent, I would decide not to give my child whole milk,” says Deb Boucher of West Hartford. “But I don’t want state legislatures and lawmakers to decide that for me.”

The bill was proposed in an effort to improve nutrition standards for, and curb obesity among, children. However, ….

“In addition to infringing on personal liberty, the bill…is based more on some legislator’s harebrained idea of how nutrition and diet work than any actual nutrition or dietary science,” writes nutritionist Elizabeth Nolan Brown.

She writes a scathing review of the legislation and points out that whole milk is healthier than skim milk because it is less processed. Whole milk has more calories than skim milk, but Brown points out that “calories aren’t everything. Whole milk is richer in protein and fats, which promote satiety and fullness, and feeling full and satisfied longer makes people (including kids) less likely to overeat later.” Brown also references two studies that found drinking skim milk was associated with weight gain while whole milk was not in both 9-14 year olds and preschoolers.

The Campaign for Real Milk is a project of the nutrition education non-profit, The Weston A. Price Foundation. Donate to help fund research into the benefits of nutrient dense foods.  westonaprice.org/lab

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