GOT CHOCOLATE

Raise your hand for drinks that aren't fattening

The National Dairy Council is pushing chocolate milk in school cafeterias, and its national ad campaign has moved some health advocates to protest. The new ad from the creators of the “;Got Milk?”; campaign encourages schoolkids to “;raise your hand for chocolate milk,”; arguing that flavored milk is more nutritious than sugary soft drinks.

But leaders from some schools that offer only plain white milk say kids will drink it if it is the only option.

Both flavored and plain milk contain calcium essential to growing strong bones, but the chocolate variety has about 50 more calories per 8-ounce serving. School cafeterias, on the front line of the battle against childhood obesity, are counting every calorie.

ON A ROLL

KCC students need to reclaim record

An 8-year-old record of Hawaii sushi chefs creating a 300-foot California roll has been surpassed by hundreds of amateur chefs at the University of California at Berkeley, shown at left.

A university spokesman said the students used 200 pounds of rice, 80 pounds of avocado, 80 pounds of cucumber, 180 pounds of fish and, in deference to vegetarians, tofu in place of seafood in the final 15 of 330 feet. The achievement should bring Kapiolani Community College's culinary students, in response, to the plate.

GENDER INEQUITY

Health chips stacked against women

Females live as second-class citizens in much of the world, and it affects their health from the moment they are born to the moment they die, too often prematurely, according to the World Health Organization. A new report by the U.N. agency highlights the unequal health treatment females face. Poverty, lack of access to health care and cultural norms that put a priority on the well-being of males all contribute. Nearly 15 percent of deaths among adult women occur during pregnancy and childbirth, the report said.