The other day I decided to try one at a national smoothie store. The fruit ingredients sounded great. However, when drinking it, it tasted very sweet. I decided to look up the ingredients list. I found this one ingredient ... turbinado. What is it? Sugar!
In this one "healthy" smoothie there were 19-teaspoons of sugar. By comparison, that's twice as much as a 12-ounce Coke.
My advice: Make your own smoothies. They're cheaper and a lot better at home.
Update: The Center for Science in the Public Interest Reports:
At Smoothie King, a serving ranges from 20 to 40 ounces. So much for the FDA’s official 8 oz. serving. But who cares? Smoothies are mostly fruit, right?
Wrong. At Smoothie King, even a 20 oz. Stay Healthy Pomegranate Punch Smoothie packs a 460-calorie punch. And two-thirds of the calories come from juice concentrate, not fruit, which means that they won’t curb your appetite like the calories from solid foods do. Needless to say, stay away from the 930-calorie, 40 oz. Pomegranate Punch unless you’re hoping for a Smoothie King-size middle.
At Jamba Juice, the servings range from 16 oz. (“Sixteen”) to 30 oz. (“Power”). So you walk away with, say, 370 calories in a 22 oz. (“Original”) Pomegranate Pick-Me-Up. Not too smooth.