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When I first saw a link to Food Politics' blog about chocolate toddler formula, I thought it was a joke. Yes, I'd heard that formula companies make formula for toddlers as well as infants, but chocolate-flavored? Seriously?! Yes, seriously.
Mead-Johnson's new Enfagrow Premium Chocolate Toddler Formula with "natural and artificial flavors" is on the market for toddlers age 12 to 36 months. Apparently it's not enough that we load our elementary school-aged kids full of sugar in the form of chocolate milk. What we really need to do is get them hooked on sugar while they're young -- really young -- like 12 months old. I wonder what Jamie Oliver would have to say about this?
Enfamil describes the NEW Enfagrow™ PREMIUM™ Chocolate as follows:
A delicious new flavor for toddlers 12 months and older - with prebiotics for digestive health!
As your child grows from an infant to a toddler, he's probably becoming pickier about what he eats. Now more than ever, ensuring that he gets complete nutrition can be a challenge.
That's why we created new Enfagrow PREMIUM Chocolate with Triple Health Guard™. With more nutrition than milk, Omega-3 DHA, prebiotics, and a great tasting chocolate flavor he'll love, you can help be sure he's getting the nutrition he still needs even after he outgrows infant formula.
The chocolate formula sells for $19.99 (for 18 servings) at Safeway in Colorado, but is currently on sale for $16.99. (What a steal!) Yes, I went into the store to check it out for myself (and snap some pictures of the nutrition information). I was tempted to buy a can for the sake of research, but I just couldn't justify giving Enfamil my money, not even in the name of investigative journalism. For the record, they also make a vanilla-flavored formula, in case your toddler isn't into chocolate.
Marion Nestle lists the main ingredients in her post Chocolate toddler formula?
Here’s the list of ingredients for everything present at a level of two percent or more:
- Whole milk
- Nonfat milk
- Sugar
- Cocoa
- Galactooligosaccharides (prebiotic fiber)
- High oleic sunflower oil
- Maltodextrin
Nestle also states: "Mead-Johnson representatives explained that Enfagrow is not meant as an infant formula. It is meant as a dietary supplement for toddlers aged 12 to 36 months." Yet, as she points out, it's called "FORMULA" and it has a nutrition facts label, not a supplement facts label. Hmmm.
Green Mom in the Burbs had this to say:
"Gross. I mean, this is just ... gross. No, not the KFC Double Down, though that’s pretty disgusting too ... I’m talking about this: Chocolate formula for toddlers. Gross. And I thought trying to get chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk out of school cafeterias was important. This is just ... wow. I’m not sure even Jamie Oliver can save us."
Cate Nelson from Eco Childs Play calls Enfagrow Chocolate Toddler Formula the "Gag Me Product of the Week" and said:
"There are serious problems with this product. First off, why do toddlers, even those who are no longer breastfed, need an infant formula? Is “baby” not getting proper nutrition? And if so, how in the world is a chocolate-flavored formula going to solve this problem?"
Kiera Butler, who writes at Mother Jones, explains a bit about toddler formula.
"So what is toddler formula, anyway? Nutritionally, the unflavored version is pretty similar to whole milk, except with more calcium and phosphorous. There seems to be a consensus that after age one, kids don't really need formula at all, as long as they have a healthy solid-foods diet and are getting plenty of calcium."
Danielle, who blogs at Momotics, said she was shocked by some of the comments she read on CafeMom about the chocolate toddler formula. One comment read, "What’s the big deal? Kids extended breastfeed." Danielle responded, "AHHH! There is NO comparison between a chocolate formula for toddlers and a mothers breast milk. They aren’t even on the same page, or in the same book!"
She also wants to know, "Why are we going to encourage our children into unhealthy eating habits by providing them with a tasty chocolatey treat? In a country with obesity rates in our children growing, it seems like simple and unknowing choices like this as children could lead our kids into serious risky eating habits as adults."
Danielle adds, "I
