Acceptability of Soy Milk as a Calcium-Rich Beverage in School Children in New York City Public Schools

May 21, 2026 updated by: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

NYC Public Schools is testing offering soy milk alongside dairy milk on the lunch line for all students during the month of May at select school sites to understand:

  • Whether students choose and drink soy milk
  • Whether offering soy milk can reduce milk waste
  • The potential environmental, nutrition, and cost impacts

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Acceptability of Soy Milk as a Calcium-Rich Beverage in School Children in New York City Public Schools.

The study intervention proposal:

In the spring and fall of 2026, the investigators aim to test the acceptability of soy milk over a four-week period of time in 11 New York City Public Schools. Leading up to the intervention, the investigators will take baseline measurements of cow's milk, both sales and amount of beverage consumed. During the 4-week intervention, there will be taste tests at each school. At the end of the intervention, the investigators will measure consumption of both cow's milk and soy milk. Students will be offered a sticker for tasting the soy milk and posters and other marketing materials will be utilized in schools. No information, identifiable or otherwise will be collected from the students. In addition to student acceptability, the investigators aim to determine whether calcium was increased as a result of bringing soy milk into the lunch line. This is a replication of a study our team published April 2006 in the Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION. In coordination with the New York City Office of Food and Nutrition Services and non-profit partners, the investigators will conduct a pilot with 11 schools to see how many students take soy milk, and to report on associated food waste. With the results, this will inform the school system with information about expanding access to soy milk and the investigators aim to publish the results to inform other food service staff across the United States about the acceptability of soy milk in school lunch programs.

The pilot will include a variety of elementary, middle, and high schools that opt into the program and they will be grades K-12 and ages 5-18. The New York City Office of Food and Nutrition Services team will invite individual schools to participate and for those who opt in, a virtual and in person training will be provided for both the administrators and food service teams at all schools. The study team will be onsite to administer the consumption measurements and the taste tests.

School administrators and food service staff will be provided an informational training that will include a Power Point presentation describing the pilot program, detailing the taste test, as well as safety measures for those with allergies. Principals will have a notification letter for parents as well as a Frequently Asked Question document about the pilot and soymilk. Schools will also be provided promotional fliers and stickers to share with students upon their discretion.

To assess and/or address any soy milk allergies during the taste testing:

Students often submit an allergy/504 plan or a dietary accommodation request if they have an allergy, and therefore the investigators will be including both the school nurse (if applicable) and cafeteria manager in the pilot training so the investigators can ensure all students who have a documented allergy are notified they cannot partake in the taste test. the investigators will also provide training on avoiding students with allergies in our training. Nurses will be invited to the training and the investigators will ensure that there is uniform communication across all channels needed prior to taste test.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Estimated)

2500

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

  • Name: Zeeshan Ali, PhD
  • Phone Number: 202-527-7302
  • Email: zali@PCRM.org

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Elmhurst, New York, United States, 11373
      • Flushing, New York, United States, 11355
      • New York, New York, United States, 10036
      • Staten Island, New York, United States, 10301
      • The Bronx, New York, United States, 10454
      • The Bronx, New York, United States, 10472

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Elementary, middle, and high school children, grades K-12 and ages 5-18, who opt into the program

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Students at the 11 participating New York City Public Schools
  • Students opting to join the pilot program and broader study

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Students opting out of the study
  • Students with soy allergies

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Elementary, Middle and High School Kids
The pilot will include a variety of elementary, middle, and high schools that opt into the program and they will be grades K-12 and ages 5-18.
Other: Acceptability of soy milk
In the spring and fall of 2026, the investigators aim to test the acceptability of soy milk over a four-week period of time in 11 New York City Public Schools. Leading up to the intervention, the investigators will take baseline measurements of cow's milk, both sales and amount of beverage consumed. During the 4-week intervention, there will be taste tests at each school and measurements of consumption of both cow's milk and soy milk. At the end of the intervention, the investigators will measure consumption of both cow's milk and soy milk.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Acceptability of Soy milk
Time Frame: 4 weeks
Number of students who choose and drink soy milk or cow's milk. The quantity of soy milk and cow's milk consumed.
4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Measurement of how much cow's milk and soy milk was consumed and how much was sold during the pilot study
Time Frame: 4 weeks
The investigators will measure how much each milk was consumed and how much each milk was wasted.
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Collaborators

Friends of the Earth
Coalition for Healthy School Food
Chilis on Wheels
Office of Food and Nutrition Services of NY City Schools

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jill Eckart, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Estimated)

May 7, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 12, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

May 19, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 26, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 21, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PCRMSM2026

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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