Fattuccinos

Nutrition Action Healthletter, July-August, 2004

If the original Coffee Frappuccino was a minor indulgence, the latest (coffee-free) Blended Creme Frappuccinos are swimsuit suicide.

An ordinary venti (24-ounce) Coffee Frappuccino has 350 calories (roughly 480 if you ask for whipped cream). The numbers drop to 260 calories (for a 16-ounce grande) or 190 (for a 12-ounce tall).

In contrast, a venti Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino has 650 calories. Add whipped cream and you're up to 780 calories and 10 grams of saturated fat. It's a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza (plus 160 calories) that you sip through a straw.

The other new Blended Cremes are no better. A venti Double Chocolate Chip with whipped cream hits 750 calories and 16 grams of sat fat. And a venti Vanilla Bean with whipped cream will give you 640 calories and 10 grams of sat fat to work off at the gym.

Blended Creme Frappuccino is a fancy word for milkshake. Our advice: If you want a Frappuccino, stick with a tall Coffee and skip the whip. Or get a no-whip Frappuccino Light. The Lights aren't sugar-free, but you'll save I00 to 150 calories and--thanks to their skim milk--two to three grams of sat fat. (They'd be better if they didn't mix the safe artificial sweetener Splenda with the possibly unsafe sweetener acesulfame potassium.)

Starbucks: (800) 235-2883.