Got diet milk? page

[PrimalHunter]

The dairy industry wants to put aspartame in milk. Unfortunately, I can see it becoming a huge hit.

[sjmc]

I just read this too! It's very unclear, but I don't think they're trying to put aspartame into "regular old milk" -- but into flavored milks, which apparently can't be called "milk" as of now unless the sweetener is non-caloric. At least this suggests so, from a link in that article:

"They state that lower-calorie flavored milk would particularly benefit school children who, according to IDFA and NMPF, are more inclined to drink flavored milk than unflavored milk at school," the FDA wrote in its notice. - See more at: Courthouse News Service

[eKatherine]

While I think the plan is to put aspartame in flavored milk, I can imagine them tweaking plain milk with it, because Americans like everything sweeter.

[sjmc]

While I think the plan is to put aspartame in flavored milk, I can imagine them tweaking plain milk with it, because Americans like everything sweeter.

At least we can depend on it having an exciting recognizable label different from normal milk so parents know to get it for their kids,

[Him]

When I was a young child I hated milk. My parents, or more often other parents, would offer it to me from time to time and it was disgusting so I wouldn't touch it. I'd drink chocolate milk but not plain. Not that I'm a fan today, but at the time people would try to make me drink the stuff so I hated it, now I can just ignore it.

At the same time the school I attended (we're talking 1st grade here) served milk at lunch. Plain milk, not chocolate or flavored milk. But since I didn't like milk I usually threw it away. Except...one day I was really thirsty. So thirsty that I actually drank the school milk. And you know what? It tasted really good!

I went home and tried some milk there, thinking maybe I had been all wrong about milk. Nope.... milk at home (standard gallon jugs of milk) tasted just like I remembered. Milk at school was much "better".

Of course at 6 or 7 "better" really meant sweeter. The school milk was like unflavored chocolate milk in terms of sweetness. I didn't look for an ingredients list, and they probably didn't have one at the time anyway, but you can bet they were adding HFCS or the like.

So... in that context... aspartame is probably a good idea.

[SugarSugar]

Interesting. That makes me want to go to the school and grab some milk to see if it has nutrition info. At my kids' school they have milk at lunch and then for $30/ semester for each kid they can have some for afternoon snack. I've never paid the money and just send water bottles for them to drink during snack time. Now I'm wondering if they should even drink it for lunch.

I don't buy flavored mil, but the kids do drink regular milk at home. Not much, but it is there. If they do add aspartame to regular milk, I won't buy it anymore.

[sjmc]

When I was a young child I hated milk. My parents, or more often other parents, would offer it to me from time to time and it was disgusting so I wouldn't touch it. I'd drink chocolate milk but not plain. Not that I'm a fan today, but at the time people would try to make me drink the stuff so I hated it, now I can just ignore it.

At the same time the school I attended (we're talking 1st grade here) served milk at lunch. Plain milk, not chocolate or flavored milk. But since I didn't like milk I usually threw it away. Except...one day I was really thirsty. So thirsty that I actually drank the school milk. And you know what? It tasted really good!

I went home and tried some milk there, thinking maybe I had been all wrong about milk. Nope.... milk at home (standard gallon jugs of milk) tasted just like I remembered. Milk at school was much "better".

Of course at 6 or 7 "better" really meant sweeter. The school milk was like unflavored chocolate milk in terms of sweetness. I didn't look for an ingredients list, and they probably didn't have one at the time anyway, but you can bet they were adding HFCS or the like.

So... in that context... aspartame is probably a good idea.

I don't know... maybe it just tasted good because you were thirsty?

[Him]

I don't know... maybe it just tasted good because you were thirsty?

Nope. I had been thirsty before, I've been thirsty since, and even when thirsty real/plain milk has never tasted good to me.

I should add that I remember telling my parents at the time that the school milk was sweeter, and that after that I would drink the milk at school but not at home.

[Gorbag]

Not a bad idea at all, making the milk sweeter without sugar would make kids drinking more of it and hopefully less sugar sodas! Taking out the lactose from the milk and replacing it with aspartame would be good also, since lactose basically is metabolized in the liver similar to fructose…

[sbhikes]

When I was a young child I hated milk. My parents, or more often other parents, would offer it to me from time to time and it was disgusting so I wouldn't touch it. I'd drink chocolate milk but not plain. Not that I'm a fan today, but at the time people would try to make me drink the stuff so I hated it, now I can just ignore it.

At the same time the school I attended (we're talking 1st grade here) served milk at lunch. Plain milk, not chocolate or flavored milk. But since I didn't like milk I usually threw it away. Except...one day I was really thirsty. So thirsty that I actually drank the school milk. And you know what? It tasted really good!

I went home and tried some milk there, thinking maybe I had been all wrong about milk. Nope.... milk at home (standard gallon jugs of milk) tasted just like I remembered. Milk at school was much "better".

Of course at 6 or 7 "better" really meant sweeter. The school milk was like unflavored chocolate milk in terms of sweetness. I didn't look for an ingredients list, and they probably didn't have one at the time anyway, but you can bet they were adding HFCS or the like.

So... in that context... aspartame is probably a good idea.

When I was a kid, milk at the restaurant we went to on Sundays was always soooo much better than any other milk. I think it was because it was because it was full-fat and really cold. This was back in the early 70s.