What should kids drink? As beverages aimed at kids boom, new guidelines recommend water and plain milk.
From plant-based chocolate milk to fizzy reduced-sugar drinks courtesy of Michelle Obama, the beverage market is always introducing new offerings to appeal to kids. But new dietary recommendations from several major health organizations say that children should really stick with drinking water and plain pasteurized milk.
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Recommendations for What Should Kids Drink
The recommendations for children ages 5-18, released Wednesday, come from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Heart Association.
• Their advice is in keeping with broader draft dietary guidelines created by an advisory committee to the U.S. government at the end of last year, which also said water should be the main thing that people of all ages drink.
• But the report is notable in carving out specific stances on the wide range of beverage options marketed to families, including plant-based milk and drinks containing non-sugar sweeteners.
• In addition to water, the report also recommends regular servings of skim or 1% milk as a way for children to meet their daily dairy needs, though it notes fortified soy milk, yogurt, or cheese can serve the same purpose.
• Flavored milk should be an infrequent choice because it often contains added sugar and non-sugar sweeteners.
• Juice that’s 100% made from fruit and vegetables is acceptable in small amounts that vary depending on the child’s age.
• Plant-based milk, apart from fortified soy milk, is not recommended as a substitute for cow’s milk unless the child has a particular reason to drink it — for example, if they’re vegan or have an allergy.
“Overall product growth and marketing and confusion among parents and families is really what drove this effort,” said Megan Lott, a registered dietician and deputy director of Healthy Eating Research, which organized the report and is a program of the philanthropic organization Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “No existing recommendations were comprehensive, [in] that they covered every kind of beverage category.”
Advice About Milk Consumption
“What we found in our research is that there’s a big misconception that they are either nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk, or some families even thought they were healthier,” said Lott. But plant-based milks typically don’t contain the same levels of nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, the report says, and children’s bodies may not absorb added nutrients in plant-based milk the way they do with cow’s milk.
The report’s take on plant-based milk is noteworthy because that market has exploded in popularity in recent years, reaching $3.3 billion in 2023 and expected to reach $8.9 billion by 2033. With this growth has come a growing number of niche products, including those aimed at children. Danone’s Silk introduced a plant-based milk with oats and peas late last year aimed at kids age 5 and up, which it’s promoted through partnerships with so-called momfluencers on TikTok and other social media platforms. Ripple Foods sells a pea protein milk for kids, including a chocolate milk option. Kiddiwinks and PlantBaby’s Kiki Milk are also aimed at kids.
The report acknowledges that some of its recommendations are controversial — for example, there’s debate about whether kids really need to avoid the saturated fat found in whole milk. Experts like pediatrician Aaron E. Carroll have also criticized some of the ideas reflected in the groups’ 2019 guidelines for younger children, such as that cow’s milk is really necessary for kids after age 2, or that plant-based milk is a nutritionally flawed alternative.
Drinks Kids Should Avoid
Less controversial are the drinks the guidelines say kids should avoid entirely: beverages with caffeine, including energy drinks; sugar-sweetened beverages, like sodas and sports drinks; and beverages with non-sugar sweeteners, like diet sodas.
Research suggests that fewer children today are heavy consumers of sugary drinks compared to the early aughts. But greater awareness of health concerns over drinks like Coke and fruit punch has also opened up opportunities for beverages marketed as healthy alternatives. Probiotic and prebiotic sodas like Olipop and Poppi tout their products as gut-friendly, reduced-sugar options, but some note they still contain caffeine, added sugar, or non-sugar sweeteners, the latter of which research has linked to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease in adults.
Meanwhile, Starbucks has emerged as the after-school destination of choice for teens and tweens, a cohort that’s drawn to icy, sugary beverages like the strawberry açai Refresher — which, as Bloomberg reported last fall, contains both caffeine and “the same amount of sugar as a Butterfinger.” And energy drinks like Prime, co-founded by Gen Z influencer Logan Paul, are regularly consumed by about one-third of kids between the ages of 12 and 17.
There are steps the industry could take to help children and families better navigate the vast array of beverage options, Lott said, like adding more 8-ounce single-serving packaging. Right now, options tend to jump from 6-ounce juice boxes to 12-ounce containers.
In the big picture, in a world where kids can easily consume multiple sugary and caffeine-loaded beverages in one day while shuttling between home, school, sports practice, and other after-school activities, Lott doesn’t want families to be overwhelmed by the guidelines. “These recommendations are the gold standard,” she said. But even swapping out one sugary drink a day for a glass of water will help children and teens — “both now, and in making healthier decisions in the future.”
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