What's Actually In McDonald's Fruit Smoothies? (2024)
Nicole Anderson
·2 min read
McDonald's offers two fruit smoothie flavors on its menu that give health-conscious consumers hope for a more wholesome option than the chain's signature Big Macs and McFlurries. However, with how fast employees have to prepare menu items once they're ordered, and knowing how many gross things there are about McDonald's, it's hard to believe these smoothies are all that fresh. This has led many McDonald's critics and consumers to question what these smoothies' ingredients actually are.
According to the McDonald's website, a medium strawberry banana smoothie is made with a pureed mixture of fruit and juice known as the "fruit base," along with low-fat yogurt and blended ice. Similarly, the mango pineapple smoothie has the exact same recipe, just with a mango and pineapple fruit base. As many critics likely suspected, employees never put actual fruit in a blender. Instead, a machine pumps out a combination of these liquids with ice before pureeing it to perfection.
While the nutritional info on McDonald's recipe page notes that their mango pineapple smoothie contains 52 grams of sugar, it also has 0 grams of added sugar. Therefore, many consumers would assume that all of the smoothie's sugar comes from the naturally occurring sugars in the fruit. However, the allergy information for the low-fat smoothie yogurt lists "sugar" as the second ingredient, along with fructose (another form of sugar) and gelatin.
As for the fruit base, the juices and purees are from concentrate, and other ingredients include artificial flavors, xanthan gum, and cellulose powder. Cellulose powder is actually "refined wood pulp" that often appears in the pharmaceutical industry, though it occasionally makes its way into processed foods to act as a stabilizing agent. So, while McDonald's fruit smoothies definitely aren't the worst thing for you, there are definitely better alternatives with fewer additives if you're looking for a quick, healthy smoothie on the go.
Ingredients: Strawberry Puree, Banana Puree, Water, Grape Juice Concentrate, Clarified Demineralized Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Sugar, Contains Less Than 1%: Natural And Artificial Flavors, Cellulose Powder, Pear Juice Concentrate, Peach Juice Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Citric Acid, Pectin, Colored With Fruit And ...
Let's take a look at what goes into it: McDonald's Smoothies are made with ingredients like low-fat yogurt, fruit purees and juices. Get all of the ingredients and nutritional facts on your favorite smoothies from our McCafé® menu.
A check of the ingredient list turns up added sugar in both the yogurt and the fruit puree (they're not peeling bananas back there—so much for real fruit), which is why there are 49 total carbs and 44 grams of sugar per serving.
Juice concentrate is made by taking away the water from the juice, leaving the flavor and a lot of sugar left. On top of this, the low fat yogurt uses 2 more sugar ingredients: sugar and fructose. The sugar, concentrated juice, and fructose makes the smoothie one sugar-high drink.
Sugar. The McDonald's small smoothies contain about 44 g of sugar, the medium smoothies contain about 55 g of sugar and the large smoothies contain about 70 g of sugar. This is likely a combination of natural and added sugars.
This homemade strawberry banana smoothie has 19 grams of sugar (without the honey). This is natural sugar (coming from the fruit and yogurt) and 19 grams is way less than most smoothies you can order at a smoothie shop. For instance, the Starbucks Strawberry Banana Smoothie has 58 grams of sugar!
Combined with the fresh fruit that is typically in smoothies, this is far too much sugar. Even though the sugar in fruit is “natural,” not “added” sugar, if you're drinking all that sugar at once without much protein or fat, it will cause a large blood sugar spike.
All fruit, fruit juices and smoothies contain a naturally occurring sugar called fructose. Fructose from whole fruit doesn't add to your intake of free (or added) sugar, but in fruit juice or a smoothie it does.
The lowest-sugar option on McDonald's menu is an order of chicken McNuggets, with zero grams. Adding the spicy buffalo dipping sauce, made with cayenne pepper, won't contribute any sugar grams, either.
So, Does Smoothie King Use Real Fruit? Yes! When we use fruit as an ingredient, we use a blend of fresh and individually quick-frozen (IQF) fruits. These fruits thaw in their own natural fruit juice, with no added syrups, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.
McDonald's strawberry banana smoothie can be a part of a healthy diet when consumed in moderation as it offers essential nutrients like vitamin C and dietary fiber. However, due to its sugar content, it's advisable to enjoy it as an occasional treat rather than a daily beverage choice.
Unfortunately, McDonald's smoothies and shakes are not a good fit for vegans as they contain plenty of dairy, like ice cream and yogurt. Here's everything else you can order vegan: Fanta Orange.
Although the milkshakes are high in protein, an important component of a healthy diet, they are not a great way to attain protein due high amounts of calories, fat and sugars.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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