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Original poster

Is chocolate unfairly demonised as unhealthy?

107 replies

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 14:56

DC are supposed to take a "healthy snack" into school for break.

What I send varies depending on what's in the house - sometimes it's something like a babybel, ricecakes, fruit etc. Often things which are questionable like hobnobs, banana bread, malt loaf, flapjack. But it's all been fine.

This week I sent them with homemade chocolate cornflake cakes - these were just cornflakes mixed with some melted chocolate. DC came back with a letter from school saying these were unsuitable snacks.

Now I'm not trying to claim that chocolate cornflake cakes are "healthy" but I don't think they're nutritionally any better/worse than a flapjack or a slice of maltloaf which I've sent the DC with on many an occasion. I think the problem is one contains chocolate and the others don't.

AIBU to say that chocolate isn't evil and something containing chocolate doesn't necessarily make it less healthy?

OP posts:
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Original poster
JambonetFromage · 29/04/2026 10:25

EricTheHalfASleeve · 29/04/2026 07:30

Chocolate is very calorie dense and has minimal health benefits. Chocolate cornflake cakes made with cheap chocolate & usually butter/golden syrup are incredibly unhealthy! Lovely treat at Easter but not a playground everyday snack. Terrible for their teeth & weight. This is why so many kids are fat - rubbish parenting.

I don't know why this thread has popped back up again?

Anyway...while I can understand why schools have a blunt approach to what constitutes a healthy snack, I think as a wider society we get FAR too hung up on individual foods being "good" or "bad". I'm still getting DC getting angsty about their school snacks and the idea that they're "not allowed" e.g. a flapjack with chocolate chips.

DC is slim and active and has a brilliant diet in the round, yesterday they ate:

-porridge with banana, blueberries and and mixed seed sprinkle
-banana chips for snack
(school lunch)
-rice cakes for afterschool snack
-lentil and chickpea rice pilaf with spinach.
-homemade apple crumble with greek yogurt.

So really I don't lose any sleep about chocolate cornflake cakes.

(my other DC has ASD+ARFID and lives on beige food, so swings and roundabouts).

Demonising individual food is just daft. And kids need energy! I do some endurance sport and everyone is OBSESSED with rice krispie squares because they're such great fuel. If kids have an energy-dense snack before zooming round the playground for 20mins I fail to see a big problem.

OP posts:
ShowmetheMapletree · 29/04/2026 09:53

JambonetFromage · 16/01/2026 10:59

I'm not saying the school should have allowed it (generally they're quite laid back - crisps seem to be the favoured snack amongst a lot of DSs friends).

I just think it's interesting that it's the addition of chocolate that seems to be the thing that's triggered the letter home when there's been no issue with stuff which I think is nutritionally no better and quite possibly worse.

Obviously you can't expect schools to do a full nutritional assessment of every snack sent in, and someone said earlier, it's perhaps just an easy place to draw the line if you're trying exclude things like Mars Bars.

But it does seem to reflect a wider way of thinking that chocolate is seen as decadent, indulgent, a treat in a way that other sweet foods aren't. Like somehow a chocolate milkshake seems "worse" than a strawberry milkshake when there's unlikely to be any difference at all. A chocolate cake "worse" than a victoria sponge when the only difference is cocoa powder.

Show quote history

Strawberry and banana ones are usually worse, full of artificial additives and colourings, (if purchased).

I agree that cake being loaded with sugary jams etc are not superior at all. I think it is easier for some people to justify what they eat by finding fault with others stuff. I believe all is fine in moderation. I remember a woman at work who was very overweight, and would lecture healthy weight colleagues on what we were eating. I had a small chocolate bar as a treat, and she came straight over and starting listing dietary unsolicited advice!🙄

ShowmetheMapletree · 29/04/2026 09:42

EricTheHalfASleeve · 29/04/2026 07:30

Chocolate is very calorie dense and has minimal health benefits. Chocolate cornflake cakes made with cheap chocolate & usually butter/golden syrup are incredibly unhealthy! Lovely treat at Easter but not a playground everyday snack. Terrible for their teeth & weight. This is why so many kids are fat - rubbish parenting.

In dc's school there are cases where the parents are fat and the kids are healthy weights, or the parents and kids are both fat. It can be lack of education in some cases, or a breaking the chain thing coming down from grandparents.

EricTheHalfASleeve · 29/04/2026 07:30

Chocolate is very calorie dense and has minimal health benefits. Chocolate cornflake cakes made with cheap chocolate & usually butter/golden syrup are incredibly unhealthy! Lovely treat at Easter but not a playground everyday snack. Terrible for their teeth & weight. This is why so many kids are fat - rubbish parenting.

OnceUponATimed · 29/04/2026 07:28

GoldenRosebee · 15/01/2026 15:49

NHS states children under 5 should eat more fat than adult should. Chocolate is about 55% coco fat.
so, how old were the kids?

Most kids eat far more than the recommended amount though. And I thought it was meant to be non transfats?

MarkStephen · 29/04/2026 07:13

This reply has been deleted

This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

Original poster
JambonetFromage · 16/01/2026 10:59

Eenameenadeeka · 16/01/2026 00:06

Chocolate isn't evil, but cornflakes stuck together with chocolate is definitely not a healthy snack and it's a bit unfair for other children who follow the rules if they're sat there with proper healthy snacks while someone else has chocolate. Our school just does a "fruit time" because it's easier than having to police what a healthy snack is.

I'm not saying the school should have allowed it (generally they're quite laid back - crisps seem to be the favoured snack amongst a lot of DSs friends).

I just think it's interesting that it's the addition of chocolate that seems to be the thing that's triggered the letter home when there's been no issue with stuff which I think is nutritionally no better and quite possibly worse.

Obviously you can't expect schools to do a full nutritional assessment of every snack sent in, and someone said earlier, it's perhaps just an easy place to draw the line if you're trying exclude things like Mars Bars.

But it does seem to reflect a wider way of thinking that chocolate is seen as decadent, indulgent, a treat in a way that other sweet foods aren't. Like somehow a chocolate milkshake seems "worse" than a strawberry milkshake when there's unlikely to be any difference at all. A chocolate cake "worse" than a victoria sponge when the only difference is cocoa powder.

OP posts:
Eenameenadeeka · 16/01/2026 00:06

Chocolate isn't evil, but cornflakes stuck together with chocolate is definitely not a healthy snack and it's a bit unfair for other children who follow the rules if they're sat there with proper healthy snacks while someone else has chocolate. Our school just does a "fruit time" because it's easier than having to police what a healthy snack is.

PollyBell · 15/01/2026 19:48

I love chocolate but no it is not healthy ans just because something is home made doesn't make it healthy either, I know what schools consider healthy or not so go along with that i can justify it to myself all I want, there is plenty of hours out of school they can eat what they want then

I dont need to do what appears popular on here and find endless ways to complain about schools, they need to consider all children not just our own and I find it easier to help them

Original poster
JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 19:44

ShowmetheMapletree · 15/01/2026 19:41

Possibly because of diary allergies? Kids are supervised in the school dinner hall, seating plan etc, but outside playing not so much.

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No they are allowed dairy in general. Yogurt suckies, that kind of thing.

OP posts:
ShowmetheMapletree · 15/01/2026 19:41

justpassmethemouse · 15/01/2026 15:02

It’s all a box ticking exercise. All food is fine in moderation. I bet the chocolate cornflakes would be fine in the lunchbox. It will just be about playing the game with the morning snack.

Possibly because of diary allergies? Kids are supervised in the school dinner hall, seating plan etc, but outside playing not so much.

Gwenhwyfar · 15/01/2026 19:41

"I'd rather they ate a homemade cornflake cake that's just cornflakes and chocolate."

I'm presuming you made the cake at home, but the cornflakes and chocolate were bought so UPF.

Original poster
JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 19:33

Calliopespa · 15/01/2026 19:23

Well I give mine chocolate op, so don't feel on the back foot.

Perfectly healthy children. We don't have much candy bar style chocolate, but I'd far rather a few squares of chocolate than things like party rings or crisps. Even most packets of relatively plain supermarket biscuits are worse.

Edited
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Oh they have chocolatey stuff in general, just not typically for school snacks!

Though nothing compared to my childhood, which was slap-bang in the middle of the era of Trios and Club bars being standard issue snacks, and I can still sing all the words to the Milky Way advert the advocated it as a smart snacking choice. I think a day without chocolate was a rare thing!

OP posts:
Calliopespa · 15/01/2026 19:23

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:57

To be fair I don’t usually give them chocolatey stuff. I just happened to have run out of school snacks (I turn my back and they demolish a packet of rice cakes and clear the fruit bowl) and it was just what we had in the house having made some at the weekend. Having sent them with various biscuits in the past I wasn’t expecting to have crossed a line!

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Well I give mine chocolate op, so don't feel on the back foot.

Perfectly healthy children. We don't have much candy bar style chocolate, but I'd far rather a few squares of chocolate than things like party rings or crisps. Even most packets of relatively plain supermarket biscuits are worse.

Calliopespa · 15/01/2026 19:21

2026x · 15/01/2026 18:30

You're probably right. At least most people think of chocolate as a ‘treat’. Don’t get me started on those biscuits which are marketed as a healthy breakfast food 🙄

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muesli bars!

Calliopespa · 15/01/2026 19:20

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:22

Yes I'm not particularly criticising the school on this, they give more leeway than many by the sounds of things.

It just got me thinking really - is the average chocolate-based sweet snack less healthy than the average sweet snack without chocolate? Chocolate just seems to have the reputation as being "unhealthy" when I don't think it's really chocolate that's the problem.

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I totally agree about chocolate.

I see why they don't have it, but there are far worse things, even in school dinners, especially if it is "decent" chocolate.

Original poster
JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:57

Purlant · 15/01/2026 18:41

No it doesn’t sound like you are at all! I just thought it might be easier to just comply to the no chocolate rule than to try and concoct something ‘healthier’ that involves chocolate when it’s not needed, when as you say they do get other forms of treats like cake and things supplied by the school already. Then they can have as much chocolate as you want to give them at home.

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To be fair I don’t usually give them chocolatey stuff. I just happened to have run out of school snacks (I turn my back and they demolish a packet of rice cakes and clear the fruit bowl) and it was just what we had in the house having made some at the weekend. Having sent them with various biscuits in the past I wasn’t expecting to have crossed a line!

OP posts:
Purlant · 15/01/2026 18:41

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:25

I'm not stamping my feet and demanding the right for my DC to eat chocolate crispy cakes 😁

We used to get free fruit in EY/KS1 but KS2 kids don't.

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No it doesn’t sound like you are at all! I just thought it might be easier to just comply to the no chocolate rule than to try and concoct something ‘healthier’ that involves chocolate when it’s not needed, when as you say they do get other forms of treats like cake and things supplied by the school already. Then they can have as much chocolate as you want to give them at home.

2026x · 15/01/2026 18:30

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:22

Yes I'm not particularly criticising the school on this, they give more leeway than many by the sounds of things.

It just got me thinking really - is the average chocolate-based sweet snack less healthy than the average sweet snack without chocolate? Chocolate just seems to have the reputation as being "unhealthy" when I don't think it's really chocolate that's the problem.

Show quote history

You're probably right. At least most people think of chocolate as a ‘treat’. Don’t get me started on those biscuits which are marketed as a healthy breakfast food 🙄

Freshcoffeeonly · 15/01/2026 18:27

This drives me nuts. No chocolate allowed at break then the school serves up chocolate brick wall with chocolate sauce for dinner. Which to be fair is my kids favourite but why the angst over healthy snacks from home then?!

Original poster
JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:25

Purlant · 15/01/2026 18:15

Can’t you just give them the treats afterschool instead? Our school has free fruit available all day for when the children want something, so it’s a lot easier for us and we don’t send in anything!

I'm not stamping my feet and demanding the right for my DC to eat chocolate crispy cakes 😁

We used to get free fruit in EY/KS1 but KS2 kids don't.

OP posts:
Original poster
JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 18:22

2026x · 15/01/2026 18:09

I think you’ve actually identified the issue with this comment. ‘No chocolate’ is an easy line to draw, something more nuanced would be better but harder to define and hard to enforce.

Show quote history

Yes I'm not particularly criticising the school on this, they give more leeway than many by the sounds of things.

It just got me thinking really - is the average chocolate-based sweet snack less healthy than the average sweet snack without chocolate? Chocolate just seems to have the reputation as being "unhealthy" when I don't think it's really chocolate that's the problem.

OP posts:
Purlant · 15/01/2026 18:15

Can’t you just give them the treats afterschool instead? Our school has free fruit available all day for when the children want something, so it’s a lot easier for us and we don’t send in anything!

2026x · 15/01/2026 18:09

JambonetFromage · 15/01/2026 15:42

I didn't say it was. I was just interested that this was where they draw the line.

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I think you’ve actually identified the issue with this comment. ‘No chocolate’ is an easy line to draw, something more nuanced would be better but harder to define and hard to enforce.

Chalo · 15/01/2026 18:04

I’m all for healthy eating and it’s a good thing but similarly, the doorstep sized wedges of jam roly poly my school used to dish up never did me much harm.