‘Healthy’ smoothies from boggy LA grocery store Arevon contain more calories than a large Starbucks Frappuccino – and the same amount as a McDonald’s Big Mac burger, nutritionists have warned.
Dietitians have revealed the fat truth about the celebrity-endorsed drink, which is believed to contain more than 500 calories and almost 80g of sugar – 10 times more than a Krispy Kreme donut – per 20oz serving.
In comparison, Starbucks’ Big Sugar Cookie Almond Milk has 440 calories and 74 grams of sugar.
The coffee chain’s popular drinks were previously condemned by international health experts as ‘full of too much sugar and calories’.
Arevhon’s Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie – designed by the model and influencer – costs an eye-watering $18 and claims to be ‘skin-supportive’ and ‘wellness-supporting’.
However, Alabama-based dietitian Carolyn Williams told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s not going to make your skin any better than any other smoothie with fresh fruit in it.’
Far from inspiring ‘good decision-making and healthy communities’ as claimed by the celebrity-favorite grocer, these products are loaded with expensive additives that are effectively useless if eaten too often, experts say, as well as tons of sugar.
Erewhon’s Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie will cost you an eye-watering $18.
Angie, a fitness influencer, tried making Hailey’s smoothie at home and counted a total of 548 calories.
DailyMail.com spent 48 hours trying to contact Arevhon to get nutritional information on the smoothie, which is not listed on the website, but Arevhon said it did not have the information available.
A TikTok user claimed to have contacted Erewhon’s corporate office: ‘They told me it’s 700 calories.’
In the absence of official nutritional information, content creators have tried to recreate smoothies based on how calorific they are.
Its ingredients listed on the website are: almond milk, organic bananas, organic strawberries, organic avocados, organic dates, organic maple syrup, Vital Proteins vanilla collagen, vanilla stevia, sea moss, organic coconut cream, and Driscoll extract. Glaze.
In Erehon’s Instagram post announcing the smoothie, they also mention hyaluronic acid as part of the formulation.
Mrs Williams said: ‘You’re getting fruit, avocado and fat.
‘Seaweed is a type of seaweed that is believed to offer some nutritional benefits, but large studies have not yet proven this.
‘Coconut cream is usually very dense in calories because it is thicker than canned coconut milk.’
Driscoll’s Organic Strawberry Glaze is commonly used as a dessert topper to finish things like ice cream and cheesecake.
Mrs Williams said: ‘It’s funny they used Driscoll’s Organic Strawberry Glaze. This has a lot of added sugar.’
Collagen is a protein that occurs naturally in the body, but is often considered a supplement to improve skin, nails, and hair.
‘Some benefits have been suggested with collagen, not necessarily on physical appearance, but there is some research on how collagen strengthens bones and protects against bone loss and joint pain,’ says Ms Williams.
‘But it’s not going to make you look better on the outside.’
As for hyaluronic acid, Ms Williams said: ‘I’ve never seen any research showing that it provides a nutritional benefit when added to food.
‘Just because it plays that role in the body doesn’t mean that consuming it through food or through a smoothie means it’s going to do those things.’
‘I was surprised they used maple syrup in addition to the dates – it’s unnecessary. Between dates and bananas, it should be sweet enough on its own.’
Some wellness gurus claim that maple syrup and dates are ‘healthier’ than white sugar – but this has been debunked by numerous dietitians.
In an explainer from last year, California dietitian Zoe Atlas explains: ‘”Natural” sugars are still sugar and can lead to blood glucose spikes or other harmful metabolic health effects just like plain old table sugar.’
On TikTok, Angie, a fitness influencer with over 200,000 followers, shares a video in which she makes a strawberry glaze smoothie according to the store’s recipe. She calculates that the drink has about 548 calories.
Michelle Murphy, a blogger on Medium, also recreated the Hailey Bieber Smoothie and calculated it to be around 600 calories.
‘That’s a lot for a smoothie,’ said Mrs Williams. ‘That’s a lot for a meal – and this is just a drink I suppose you’ll have as an extra.’ She estimated that the drink would be ‘at least 400 calories’.
Olivia Rodrigo’s collaboration with Arevon is her Good 4 UR GUTS smoothie, with sea buckthorn and pomegranate kombucha.
Arevhon’s other ‘healthy’ smoothie offering is the ‘Good 4 Your Guts Smoothie’, priced at $18, designed by singer Olivia Rodrigo to mark the release of her album, GUTS.
Promising ‘gut-healing support’, this drink contains oat milk, pomegranate kombucha, sea buckthorn, ion gut support, honey, protein chocolate maca, strawberries, dates, blueberries, mangoes, acai, coconut cream and avocados.
Ms Williams said sea buckthorn and ion gut support ‘won’t do much.
‘There are a lot of things that I don’t necessarily think are bad, but I don’t think they’re going to do anything or that’s worse than money.’
‘It’s not something you should go out and get because it’s going to make you healthy,’ she added.
As for the potential effect on the gut, Ms Williams said it would have no more impact than any other fruit smoothie – which contains fiber to speed up the digestive process.
She estimated Rodrigo’s smoothie to be ‘at least 400 calories’.
If one were to drink it every day, ‘it’s not a superfood or something that will revolutionize your health.’
Emma Chamberlain’s ‘Protein Packed’ Cold Brew Cookie Smoothie is also $18 and is estimated at over 600 calories.
Next up is social media personality Emma Chamberlain’s ‘protein packed’ cold brew cookie smoothie.
The decadent drink is packed with banana, toffee stevia, vanilla protein powder, almond milk, beauty drops, almond butter, coconut meat, ice, cold brew concentrate. frozen raspberries, Caramel, dates, cocoa powder, coconut cream, Chocolate brownie thin cookies and Cocoa nibs.
Mrs Williams said: ‘It has slightly more protein than the other two, you’re probably getting 15-25g of protein – so at least it’ll keep you full.
Coconut meat and coconut cream – they are high in calories and fat. It will add a good amount of calories.’
Factoring in the caramel, dates and cookie crumbles, ‘this would be at least 600 calories,’ she said.
‘I consider this a very big treat and not something to eat every day. Most of my meals don’t even have 600 calories,’ she said.
‘It’s low in fiber because it doesn’t have a lot of fruit,’ added Mrs Williams.
Another popular smoothie from Arehon is its Coconut Cloud Smoothie, which has an aesthetic light blue color.
It contains almond milk, pineapple, banana, avocado, almond butter, vanilla collagen, vanilla stevia, blue magic and coconut cream.
Blue Magic is a brand of spirulina, a type of algae. ‘There is some research on the potential health benefits of spirulina, but there are no large studies; There’s nothing too critical,’ said Mrs Williams.
‘This seems a little more well-rounded than some of the others. But again, it will be very calorie-dense. I would again think closer to 400 calories or more.’
‘This is not something that will change your health.’