870 calories in a drink? “Food porn,” says CSPI

Two new offerings from coffee giant Starbucks don’t actually have any coffee, but its Coconut Crème and Vanilla Crème Frappuccinos do have 870 calories and an entire day’s worth of saturated fat into a 20-ounce venti. That, says the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), is enough to earn the group’s not-so-coveted Food Porn of the Month award in its Nutrition Action Healthletter.

“These drinks are more like milk shakes than coffee,” said CSPI senior nutritionist Jayne Hurley. “Still, I doubt that many people expect that a drink from Starbucks can be as bad for your arteries as a three-quarter-pound New York strip steak. If ever there were a poster beverage for requiring calorie information on menu boards, this is it. By comparison, a venti Iced Caffè Latte with skim milk looks awfully good at just 110 calories. Although the Crème Frappuccinos are the highest-calorie drinks Starbucks sells, two others actually have more saturated fat, according to CSPI. The Chocolate Brownie Frappuccino and the Mocha Coconut Frappuccino each has 23 grams of saturated fat—more than a day’s worth.

Food Porn is a regular feature on the back page of Nutrition Action Healthletter. September’s Food Porn was Mrs. Fields’ now-discontinued 1,070-calorie Cinnamon Roll with Cream Cheese Icing.