Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s at restaurants and movie theaters has created tremendous controversy amongst city residents.
Beyond questions of legality, rights and ethics, this is a good opportunity to investigate the nutritional quality of all those popular beverages. Below is a list of popular menu items at several local retailers and their nutritional stats.
Overall, I'm not particularly impressed with any of the options listed below. Most are well above the recommended intakes of sugar and carbohydrates. The Oreo Coolatta also has amounts of trans fats.
Here's an experiment to try at home. There are dozens of free food journal applications available for Smart Phones or computers, each fully loaded with nutritional information for thousands of products. Try downloading one and entering your height, weight and age to see how well these daily sips fit into your diet. For nutritional information from your favorite chains, check out their websites. All of them are now required to provide nutritional information.
Product: Starbucks' Iced Green Tea Latte (16 oz.)
Calories: 290 Total Fat: 5 Cholesterol: 20 Sodium: 130 Carbs: 51 Sugar: 49 Protein: 10
Product: Starbucks' Strawberries and Cream Frappucino (16 oz.)
Calories: 470 Total Fat: 17 Cholesterol: 60 Sodium: 270 Carbs: 73 Sugar: 71 Protein: 6
Product: Starbucks' Tazo Iced Chai Latte (16 oz.)
Calories: 240 Total Fat: 4 Cholesterol: 15 Sodium: 110 Carbs: 44 Sugar: 42 Protein: 7
Product: Starbucks' Iced Passion Tea (16 oz.)
Calories: 80 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 0 Carbs: 21 Sugar: 21 Protein: 0
Product: Starbucks' Iced Coffee with Milk (16 oz.)
Calories: 120 Total Fat: 1.5 Cholesterol: Under 5 Sodium: 30 Carbs: 24 Sugar: 23 Protein: 2
Product: McDonalds' Vanilla McCafe Shake (12 oz.)
Calories: 530 Total Fat: 17 Cholesterol: 50 Sodium: 160 Carbs: 84 Sugar: 63 Protein: 10
Product: Panera's Frozen Lemonade Iced Chai Latte (16 oz.)
Calories: 100 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 10 Carbs: 24 Sugar: 24 Protein: 0
Product: Panera's Cinnamon Plum Tea (8.25 oz.)
Calories: 0 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 0 Carbs: 0 Sugar: 0 Protein: 0
Product: Dunkin' Donuts' Oreao Coffee Coolatta with Cream (small)
Calories: 480 Total Fat: 26 Cholesterol: 80 Sodium: 210 Carbs: 64 Sugar: 49 Protein: 4
Product: Dunkin' Donuts' Oreo Coffee Coolatta with Cream (large)
Calories: 730 Total Fat: 39 Cholesterol: 120 Sodium: 320 Carbs: 95 Sugar: 74 Protein: 7
Product: Dunkin' Donuts' Mocha Almond Late (small)
Calories: 220 Total Fat: 6 Cholesterol: 25 Sodium: 120 Carbs: 35 Sugar: 33 Protein: 7
Product: Dunkin' Donuts' Cappuccino (small with no sweetener)
Calories: 80 Total Fat: 4 Cholesterol: 15 Sodium: 70 Carbs: 7 Sugar: 7 Protein: 4
Product: Dunkin' Donuts' Strawberry Coolatta (small)
Calories: 230 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 35 Carbs: 57 Sugar: 57 Protein: 0
Product: Coca Cola (20 oz.)
Calories: 240 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 75 Carbs: 65 Sugar: 65 Protein: 0
Product: Sprite (16 oz)
Calories: 197 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 44 Carbs: 50 Sugar: 44 Protein: 0
Product: Vitamin Water Energy (32 oz.)
Calories: 200 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 0 Carbs: 52 Sugar: 52 Protein: 0
Product: Juicy Juice Apple Juice (10 oz.)
Calories: 140 Total Fat: 0 Cholesterol: 0 Sodium: 25 Carbs: 35 Sugar: 33 Protein: 0
