Chocolate Toddler Formula Draws Ire of Consumer Advocates

“Don’t you love the idea of year-old infants drinking sugar-sweetened chocolate milk? And laced with ‘omega-3s for brain development, 25 nutrients for healthy growth, and prebiotics to support the immune system’?,” opines New York University Professor Marion Nestle in an April 26, 2010, Food Politics blog post decrying chocolate dietary supplements for toddlers ages 12 to 36 months. Claiming that consumers are paying 86 cents “for only six ounces of unnecessarily fortified milk plus unnecessary sugar and chocolate,” Nestle implies that chocolate- and vanilla-flavored formulas directly compete with milk as a weaning food. She also urges the Food and Drug Administration to issue warning letters to manufacturers whose products feature “front-of-package health claims clearly aimed at babies” younger than age 2. “No wonder Jamie Oliver encountered so much grief about trying to get sweetened, flavored milks out of schools,” writes Nestle. “Next: let’s genetically modify moms to produce chocolate breast milk!”

Meanwhile, Psychology Today’s Susan Albers likewise criticizes the makers of flavored toddler formulas for allegedly contributing to an obesogenic environment. In a May 5, 2010, article titled “Chocolate Toddler Formula? What Will They Think of Next,” she cites activists like Rudd Center Director Kelly Brownell in claiming that consumer choices are increasingly restricted by a “toxic food environment.” As Albers concludes, “It’s pretty safe to say that chocolate toddler formula would be part of this ‘toxic environment’ which is described as ‘high-calorie, high-fat, heavily marketed, inexpensive, and readily accessible foods’.”