Flavored Milk, Dietary Quality, and Childhood Nutrition

Abstract

In the general debate surrounding added sugars in the diet, what is typically lost is the rational appreciation for the fact that a moderate amount of added sugars may actually improve the nutritional quality of any given diet. In fact, moderate amounts of sugar added to nutrient-dense foods have been shown to enhance palatability, increasing the likelihood of their consumption, particularly among children. A case in point could be a basket of juicy, red strawberries. Clearly the berries are ripe, but upon tasting them, they’re found out to be tart. But if they were dipped in table sugar to sweeten them up, they become edible! The sugar made them more palatable. Less than a teaspoon of sucrose was used, in other words, less than 15 cal. But the small amount of sugar used meant the strawberries were eaten versus thrown away. Vitamin C, vitamin A, fiber, and an excellent source of many phytonutrients are ingested as a result. Indeed, the sweetness of naturally occurring sugars found in fruit is what attracted our prehistoric ancestors to consume fruits and other sweet tasting foods, which in turn increased their intake of carbohydrates, vitamins A and C, fiber, and the myriad of phytochemicals we are only now beginning to understand.