Nesquik is a division of Nestle, a food and pharmaceutical company with its base in Switzerland. Nesquik products are shelf-stable and can help you get your recommended servings of milk. When you are evaluating a product's nutrition, consider whether it contains the nutrients you need and allows you to stay within your calorie limit.
Background
Nesquik is a milk beverage that Nestle markets toward children for its taste and nutrition. It comes in plain, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavors. You can buy Chocolate Nesquik in bottles as a ready-to-drink product or you can add Nesquik powdered mix or flavored syrup to milk or ice cream. The ready-to-drink bottles include low-fat, fat-free and low-sugar choices as well as a 100-calorie alternative.
Calories
Each cup of Nesquik chocolate fat free milk has 150 calories and the chocolate milkshake has 180 calories per cup. Remember that the calories on nutrition label are per serving and that some containers have more than one serving. For example, Nesquik fat-free chocolate milk comes in a 16 oz. size with two 150-calorie servings. If you drink the entire bottle, you will have 300 calories.
Vitamins And Minerals
Each 8 oz. serving of chocolate Nesquik has 40 percent of the daily value for calcium, 25 percent of the daily value for vitamin D and 10 percent of the daily value for vitamin A. Calcium is a major component of bones and vitamin D increases its absorption. Your body needs vitamin A for normal cell growth and development, as well as immune function and healthy vision.
Sugars
Sugars are carbohydrates that can be natural parts of foods or added ingredients. A key recommendation in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines is to decrease consumption of added sugars such as table sugar or high fructose corn syrup, which contribute calories without essential nutrients. Someone on a 2,000-calorie daily diet should keep added sugars under 8 tsp., or 32 g, per day. Nesquik ready-to-drink chocolate milk has about 28 g of sugar per cup serving. Some of this is from lactose, the natural sugar in milk, and some is from added sugars.
Evaluation
The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) states that water is the best drink because it has no calories and is free. In contrast, a drink high in added sugars is the worst choice. Low-fat and fat-free milk provide essential nutrients but they are high in calories, and the HSPH recommends that you limit these kinds of drinks to one or two servings per day. Each cup of Nesquik counts as a milk serving, and the Dietary Guidelines recommend two to three servings per day of milk or other low-fat dairy products like cheese or yogurt.
References
- Nesquik: Nesquik Ready to Drink: Calcium Fortified 100-Calorie Chocolate Low-Fat Milk 8 oz
- Nesquik: Nesquik Ready to Drink: Calcium Fortified Chocolate Fat Free Milk
- US Department of Health And Human Services: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005
- Harvard School of Public Health: The Nutrition Source: Healthy Drinks
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