Inevitably in life, you'll sometimes stumble across some new bit of information that ruins something you had previously enjoyed. Recently, I came across a claim that Dunkin Donuts has a drink which contains well over 100 grams of sugar. No way. How could that be possible? I know their drinks aren't good for you, but no way they could be that bad.
A claim that outrageous had to be fact checked. Let's go down the rabbit hole. Or, more aptly, let's go down the rabbit cavity...
There's no escaping the sweet embrace of sugar. And nor should you. Our bodies need sugar. But, are you consuming way more sugar than your body needs? Are you even aware of how much sugar you are consuming?
Here in the U.S., food labels are required to break down the sugar content of a product into Total Sugars and Added Sugars. This was one of many changes made to food labels in May of 2016 as a result of new regulations by the Food and Drug Administration(FDA). Here's a link to the final ruling.
This change in labeling allows us to see exactly how much sugar companies are adding to our food beyond the sugars which are naturally occurring in the ingredients. And the amounts that they are adding are, quite frankly, astounding.
When it comes to the question of how much sugar is too much, there is no exact answer. The different types of sugars are processed by our bodies differently. Lifestyle and genetics also factor in. The FDA has set the Daily Value for added sugars to be 50 grams per day based on a 2,000 calorie daily diet.
The American Heart Association recommends that men should consume no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day. Women should consume no more than 25 grams.
Not to pick on Dunkin Donuts, but it was one of their drinks which led me down this hole to begin with. That drink is their frozen coffee. On their website, you can see the nutritional information of their products. So, I went with a large frozen coffee with skim milk and French vanilla swirl. Here are the totals...
Sadly, that isn't an error. 160 grams of sugar. 144 of that being ADDED. Looking at the ingredients reveals 5 different sweeteners. Liquid cane sugar, two flavored syrups, high fructose corn syrup, and just plain old regular sugar. Because, at that point, why not?
This wasn't enough, though. I needed to visualize the immensity of this. Using this great converter, I found out that 160 grams is equal to 12.8 tablespoons. Those tablespoons were then added to a measuring cup, filling it just beyond 3/4 of a cup.
Here's another way to visualize 160 grams of sugar. One of Dunkin Donut's glazed donuts has 13 grams of sugar. That means you could eat a dozen of their glazed donuts and still have consumed less sugar than this drink contains. Sick to your stomach yet?
The good news is that it does get better from there. By "better" I mean still high, but not criminally high. For example, the very popular iced coffees with a flavor added contain 49 grams of total sugar. A large Refresher contains 39 grams.
For another comparison, I took a look at a similar drink offered by Starbucks. Their Frappuccino blended beverage. In honor of the season, I chose the pumpkin spice one. The venti(24 oz) has 80 grams of sugar. It also has something the Dunkin Donut's drinks don't have...fat. And a good amount of it, too. Starbucks likes giving people the cream.
It is no surprise, to me, that these places aren't serving the healthiest products. The extent of how bad they are is terribly surprising, though. It is very important to read labels and learn what is in your food.
Thanks for reading.
Wherever we are, we are surrounded by nature. It's always trying to communicate with us. Take time to notice. #NoticeNature.
