McDonald’s this week introduced a new flavor to its smoothie line, mango pineapple. You drank up our post on its strawberry smoothie so this new flavor post seemed a good idea.
McDonald’s has posted nutrition info for the mango pineapple smoothie. A small mango pineapple, 12 ounces, has 220 calories, not bad and certainly not a daily calorie count buster by any means.
But read further and you’ll see it also has 49 grams of sugar, or about 12 teaspoons full. For future reference there are 4.2 grams of sugar in one teaspoon full.
Have you ever asked for a cup or tea, or glass of iced tea, with 12 teaspoons full of sugar in it? Seriously.
Most of that sugar, 45 grams, is in the fruit base used in the smoothie, McDonald’s reports. The rest is in the low-fat yogurt in the drink.
The American Heart Association has recommended that adult men should consume no more than nine teaspoons full or just over 36 grams of sugar daily, while adult women’s daily recommended intake is five teaspoons full or just over 20 grams. Remember those amounts are over the entire day, not at a single sitting.
So a man and a woman could split one of these smoothies. Finishing one alone, on the other hand, will put either a man or a woman over their daily sugar limit. They might be better off passing on these sugar monsters in favor of something more nutritious.
Tony wrote a valuable blog item Why You Shouldn’t Drink McDonald’s Frozen Strawberry Lemonade because of the more than 67 grams of sugar in it. Also, Why McDonald’s Shamrock Shake is a Sugar Monster. Both worth reading.
John
Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger 
I can’t beieve there is sooooo much sugar, won’t be buying this any more!
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if you read correctly, the article says that 45 grams of that sugar is in the fruit. Most fruit has high carbs.
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Once sugar is in your body it can’t differentiate between sources. It is all sugar.
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While it’s true that most fruit has high carbs. The article says “fruit base” it kinda makes you wonder if they add extra ingredients that may also contain sugar to it. It is a fast food restaurant…. Taste usually comes first…. then health.
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I don’t care how much sugar it has as long as it’s not too high in calories. I have nothing against sugar.
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Sugar still turns into fat if you don’t exercise it off! Sugar is energy.
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Dylan –
The sugar increases the calories.
Tony
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You should.
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Hey, what a coincidence you wrote this today. I just looked up the ingredients yesterday because my significant other has been curious to try McD’s smoothies. We never eat there, but he worked there as a teenager and we own stock, so there’s always an interest. I determined that pineapple mango was the healthiest option, but that’s not saying much. We have a Vitamix blender (most awesome overly expensive appliance I have ever bought). I encourage everyone to consider that or other blenders in the category. Consumer Reports just reviewed blenders and Vitamix was at the top (for a mere $450). You can toss in any fruit or veggie, maybe some yoghurt, a little ice and water and voila, an incredibly healthy and delicious drink – and, no, I don’t work for the company. Just a really happy customer.
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The number of calories is the equivalent of about 2.5 medium apples – really not all that bad if you are careful about the other things you eat the day you have one of these. They are very refreshing with the heat wave we are having
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Did you see the part about the 49 grams of sugar (12 teaspoons full)? That’s not the same at 2.5 medium apples.
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Is it possible to make the smoothies with splenda?
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It is possible, but Splenda is also a chemical concoction made from sugar. It is not healthy for you.
Wikipedia says A Sugar Association complaint to the Federal Trade Commission stated that “Splenda is not a natural product. It is not cultivated or grown and it does not occur in nature.”[28] McNeil Nutritionals, the manufacturer of Splenda, has responded that its “advertising represents the products in an accurate and informative manner and complies with applicable advertising rules in the countries where Splenda brand products are marketed.” The U.S. Sugar Association created a web site to criticize sucralose which cites an association-sponsored study.
Tony
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Hello….I watched some smoothie drink videos on youtube :0 that I felt were a much healthier option. You use fruit,water, ice and Agave nectar to sweeten them.(You can also throw in some vegetabales)
~T. James
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Thanks, T, good suggestion. As you may have noticed I am a big fan of the Vita-Mix machine here. Check out the Vita-Mix tag for further recipes for smoothies.
Tony
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Very practical information, thank you.
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Glad you found it useful.
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The USDA guidelines are misleading, and so is your statement about the sugar intake of men and women. The sugar comes from fruit; this is the only smoothie without added sugar in the purée. I’m not saying its necessarily healthy, but get real. You wouldn’t be telling people to not eat fruit because there is more sugar in it than the USDA guidelines suggest, would you?
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I hadn’t found anything on the McDonald’s web site making the point you make, namely that there’s no added sugar, so thanks for that. To your second point, when I was getting diet advice from my doctor for my mother, a diabetic, he advised against letting her eat grapes because of their high sugar levels, so sugar in fruits is not all created equal.
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Could I just add to that comment that doctors have a maximum of 12 hours of nutrition training in their 5 to 7 years of medical study. As admirable as they are, they are certainly not an authority on nutrition. Sugar in fruit is nowhere near the same as sugar which has been refined. Our bodies need fat, which can of course come from the sugar from fruit which is good sugar, it’s not the enemy here. Too much of anything can harm you – too much pure water can harm you. Common sense here I think is called for. Let’s not put sugar from fruit in the same bowl (sorry) as sugar that is refined, they’re not even close.
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Hey, Guys, don’t know how many of you have seen the new corn sugar commercial but it has some truth to it. No matter the source of the sugar, once in your body, your body cannot tell where the sugar came from. Sugar is sugar. It all turns to energy in your body. So the key is moderation and exercise. Also watching the number of calories per day.
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Wow!!! I really loved this smoothie until I saw how much sugar it has!! I was hoping it was somewhat of a healthy choice:( I was drinking at least 3 medium pineapple smoothies a week. I had a small one in my hands as I read this and threw it out, so I’ll be making my own !
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You may say sugar is sugar, but from what I understand, “corn syrup” is actually processed by the liver, not even entering the blood stream and is directly stored as fat around the mid-section, a yellow brick road leading directly to diabetes… and there is also the concern that if it is not organic, it is most likely GMO… I ain’t touchin’ it… and by the way, sugar or glucose (made from sugar beets) enters the bloodstream where it is metabolized using insulin and a more readily available source of energy… maybe the body is smarter than we think…
Has anyone heard about the latest fruit smoothie product called “Barfresh Smoo Smoothies ” that is being marketed as “healthy and natural” to the big fast food chains, and giving McDonald’s a run for their money? I have tried looking for the sugar content, short of contacting the company, and can’t seem to find any nutritional info… Apparently it will be shipped frozen (huge footprint!) in individual single serving sized Plastic … is there any way to find out what the sugar content is?
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They are marketed by Smoothies Inc. Here is their website http://smoothieinc.com/?page_id=39. I couldn’t find much in nutritional info, but you can try contacting them.
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This is horrible! Did not realize the medium size smothie had 56 gms of sugar. I began to feel an “achy” feeling on my kidney area. Too much intake sugar for my kidneys.
Very disappointed at McDonald’s.
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Thanks for sharing.
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