According to the American Heart Association, the recommended added sugar intake for men is 36 grams and for women is 25 grams, meaning several of the handcrafted products double, triple, or even quadruple the suggested daily sugar quantities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve done a good job identifying soda as not being so great because it has a ton of sugar and empty calories, but then you look at some of these beverages, and there\u2019s so much more sugar than soda. I think because they\u2019re not soda, people are like, \u2018Oh, they must be healthier,\u2019 and they\u2019re just not,\u201d said Chloe Schweinshaut, a Cambridge-based registered dietitian and nutritionist.<\/p>\n
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A standard 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola contains 39 grams of sugar and 140 calories. A medium Dunkin\u2019 Frozen Hot Chocolate? A whopping 121 grams of sugar and 690 calories. But let\u2019s not be dramatic. Most people\u2019s daily Dunkin\u2019 order isn\u2019t a frozen hot chocolate; it\u2019s some coffee variant. However, a medium iced Caramel Craze Latte (my go-to order) still surpasses a can of Coke, sugar and calorie-wise, with 57 grams of sugar and 410 calories.<\/p>\n
But how much sugar is that really? One Medium Vanilla Bean Coolatta, sitting at 125 grams of sugar and 590 calories, contains the same amount of sugar as 9.6 Dunkin\u2019 glazed doughnuts.<\/p>\n
Despite Kennedy\u2019s framing, teenage girls are by no means the only consumers of these sugary beverages; for many people, they\u2019re a regular purchase.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re looking at Dunkin\u2019 Donuts like RFK was talking about, Dunkin\u2019 Donuts is a daily habit for a lot of people, and they\u2019re not in isolation with other foods,\u201d Schweinshaut said. \u201cIf somebody\u2019s having a sugar-sweet beverage, they might be having some other stuff too.\u201d<\/p>\n
But other than a sugar high (and crash), what are the dangers of too much sugar? According to the Centers for Disease Control, excess added sugar intake is tied to several health problems, including weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. But frequency of consumption really is key.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch of this comes down to the pattern of eating or intake and the risks of having one of these drinks as a one-off, for most people, is none,\u201d Boston-based nutritionist Sally Cohen said.<\/p>\n
So what should you do? Luckily, not every drink on the Dunkin\u2019 or Starbucks menus is as sugary as Kennedy claims, so don\u2019t fret, New England, you don\u2019t have to cut Dunkin\u2019 out of your routine completely. <\/p>\n
Cohen encourages consumers to explore options like downsizing their beverages or modifying them to have less sugar than in the original recipe. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have studies that look at whether we can reduce preference for sweetness by offering slightly less sweet beverages over time, and the answer is: it might be effective,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
However, she also cautions against demonizing specific nutrients.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it can be challenging when we pick on a particular nutrient and start to frame it as bad because we can create an environment in which some folks feel guilty or shame for consuming those nutrients, and that is a risk in and of itself in addition to the potential cardiometabolic risks of consuming sugar beyond a certain amount,\u201d Cohen said.<\/p>\n
Schweinshaut\u2019s advice? \u201cEnjoy these occasionally. Treat them like the liquid desserts they are, not as an everyday thing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Gitana Savage can be reached at gitana.savage@globe.com<\/a>. Follow her on X @gitana_savage<\/a>.<\/p>\n