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Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

money.cnn.com

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Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#11

Post by Ntrails »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #3

It's maybe worth mentioning that Type 2 Diabetes - which is mostly avoidable - can lead to blindness and lower limb amputation. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Diabetes-type2/Pages/Introducti... When I feel like reaching for the sweets or over-sugared drinks I stop to wonder if it's worth losing my legs or my eyesight.

I really dislike this line of shock tactics. You can drink a hot chocolate. or a can of coke, or eat a chocolate bar every now and again with no real change in your risk of diabetes - assuming you aren't already ticking the other risk factors (genetic, overweight, etc).

Blanket calls for abstinence with threats of disease has not, typically, been as effective as helping people make properly informed decisions.

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#12

Post by feintruled »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #10

I was never a big coffee drinker, but when I did I'd drink a "foo-foo" coffee drink which was usually a turtle latte or something similar. I figured if it was only once in a while I was fine. Then I read the nutritional information and nearly fainted: https://www.cariboucoffee.com/menu-nutrition/beverage-food-d... 630 calories, 65g of sugar, 21g of saturated fat, 195mg of caffeine. If you do the conversion where 4g o…

Wow. It certainly gives their "Life is short. Stay awake for it!" slogan a rather dark twist!

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#13

Post by maxerickson »

ChrisArgyle wrote: post #4

Their measurements appear to include whipped cream but this isn't mentioned in the article. For example: the pictured Starbucks Venti White Chocolate Mocha is accused of 18tsp sugar but Starbucks nutrition info[1] says 15tsp (55g) sugar without whipped cream. [1] https://news.starbucks.com/uploads/documents/nutrition.pdf Edit: incorrect quote

The picture says "18 teaspoons".

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#14

Post by [deleted] »

feintruled wrote: post #12
at-fates-hands wrote: post #10

I was never a big coffee drinker, but when I did I'd drink a "foo-foo" coffee drink which was usually a turtle latte or something similar. I figured if it was only once in a while I was fine. Then I read the nutritional information and nearly fainted: https://www.cariboucoffee.com/menu-nutrition/beverage-food-d... 630 calories, 65g of sugar, 21g of saturated fat, 195mg of caffeine. If you do the conversion where 4g o…

Wow. It certainly gives their "Life is short. Stay awake for it!" slogan a rather dark twist!

[deleted]

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#15

Post by merraksh »

dogma1138 wrote: post #8

What a clickbate... It's probably important to note that it's not only "flavored" drinks, milk has quite a bit of sugar in it naturally, the "special" milk which is used by some coffee places has about 9% fat and 2-3% carbohydrates which makes it worse than coke on it's own, normal whole/semi-skimmed/skimmed(skimmed usually have higher amounts of sugar to make it not taste like well the water it is) milk has about 5g…

I'm not sure where the click-bait is. The title of the article is consistent with the content, i.e., many beverages at Starbucks have a lot of sugar content. Whether that comes from adding sugar or adding ingredients which are naturally sweet is not the point of the article.

> It's probably important to note that it's not only "flavored" drinks, milk has quite a bit of sugar in it naturally,

True, but is milk the sole responsible for the high sugar content in a latte?

> the "special" milk which is used by some coffee places has about 9% fat and 2-3% carbohydrates which makes it worse than coke on it's own,

Well, if "special" means "processed", then this again proves the point of the article. No matter where or how the sugar is added, these drinks have quite a lot of it.

> skimmed usually have higher amounts of sugar to make it not taste like well the water it is

Confirms the point above.

> It's also probably worth noting that a Starbucks "Venti" size is more than double the the volume of a coke can to begin with so about 680ml (espresso shot which is used as the base is only about 30ml) of milk + couple of sugar spoons to make it sweet can easily get to 2-3 times the amount of sugar in coke

Perhaps not for the same volume. Many fast food chains sell sodas in cups that are 2-3 times the volume of a 33cl can.

> without even having to go overboard with crap like whipped cream and syrups.

Again, consistent with the article's point. The numbers are there, and they seem to be higher than the recommended daily amount of sugar intake.

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#16

Post by agumonkey »

DarkTree wrote: post #2

I'm not surprised some Starbucks drinks have a ton of sugar, but the 3 cans of Coke worth definitely puts it into perspective. I grew up drinking my coffee with sugar and cream, but eventually stopped using sugar, and then ultimately drinking it black. If you can wean off adding compliments to your coffee, you will most likely acquire a taste for the bitterness of coffee. Once you begin loving the true taste of coffe…

My body rejects processed foods nowadays, I'm somehow forced to eat raw everything. It's funny how so many tastes there are. Now I now there's enjoyable tastes outside the usual junk food. But, I miss the feel of carb + sugar + fat, it really does push all your brains button :)

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#17

Post by paulbennett »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #10

I was never a big coffee drinker, but when I did I'd drink a "foo-foo" coffee drink which was usually a turtle latte or something similar. I figured if it was only once in a while I was fine. Then I read the nutritional information and nearly fainted: https://www.cariboucoffee.com/menu-nutrition/beverage-food-d... 630 calories, 65g of sugar, 21g of saturated fat, 195mg of caffeine. If you do the conversion where 4g o…

> Real chocolate - dark, milk or white - melted into steamed milk and combined with our rich espresso and caramel. Topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce and Snickers®

I think you can probably work out from the description that its not going to be a healthy drink.

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#18

Post by merraksh »

asgfoi wrote: post #6

How sad it is that the can of coke is used as a comparison. It almost makes it look like a reasonable drink. The World Health Organization has recently suggested cutting the recommended sugar intake for adults in half, to about 25 grams, around 6 teaspoons, of sugar for a normal weight adult a day. Here is my favorite site that shows the amounts of sugar cubes in various unhealthy food: http://www.sugarstacks.com/ Ac…

An initiative here in the UK has an app for counting how much sugar is in any product with a barcode:

http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#19

Post by miseg »

DarkTree wrote: post #2

I'm not surprised some Starbucks drinks have a ton of sugar, but the 3 cans of Coke worth definitely puts it into perspective. I grew up drinking my coffee with sugar and cream, but eventually stopped using sugar, and then ultimately drinking it black. If you can wean off adding compliments to your coffee, you will most likely acquire a taste for the bitterness of coffee. Once you begin loving the true taste of coffe…

I've tried weaning myself off strong milky coffee, but I like the taste of the milkiness. I get what you're saying, and will try to reduce the milk content over time.

Re: Starbucks has 3x the sugar of a whole Coke in some drinks

#20

Post by GordonS »

dogma1138 wrote: post #8

What a clickbate... It's probably important to note that it's not only "flavored" drinks, milk has quite a bit of sugar in it naturally, the "special" milk which is used by some coffee places has about 9% fat and 2-3% carbohydrates which makes it worse than coke on it's own, normal whole/semi-skimmed/skimmed(skimmed usually have higher amounts of sugar to make it not taste like well the water it is) milk has about 5g…

> milk has quite a bit of sugar in it naturally

What?

I don't know what you are drinking, but milk is typically around 5% sugar; I wouldn't classify that as 'quite a bit'.

Additionally, all sugars are not made equal. Lactose has a much lower glycemic index (~45) compared to those of refined cane sugar (68) or glucose (100), meaning that it increases your blood sugar much more slowly.

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