A Sour View of Sweets
In case you missed it, Krispy Kreme got ragged on by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine earlier this month.
The PCRM’s ostensive mission is to promote preventive medicine. That pushes it o a role as a watchdog of nutrition policy, and the group typically has a lot to say about the food business in general.
A lot of people don’t like the PCRM. In fact, its members often are cast as the loud, annoying protesters making a stink outside the auditorium. Still, they have a role to play. In short, that role is just part of the checks and balances of a capitalist democratic society.
So I don’t quibble with PCRM’s report, which highlights the “five most fattening frozen drinks.”
In fact, I would argue that people need to know who makes the most fattening, the highest-calorie and the least nutritious foods.
Still, the report did make me wonder about how our society views food. And because of PCRM’s attention to government policy, I’m also wondering how much the government will end up reaching into our kitchens (kind of like the government telling you what you can or can’t do in the bedroom).
Is anybody, especially us folks in Winston-Salem, surprised that Krispy Kreme sells a fattening frozen drink?
It’s a doughnut shop, after all!
If any place should sell fattening frozen drinks, it seems that a doughnut shop is a good place for it.
Now it might be a leap to suggest that society as a whole is outraged by the idea of fattening frozen drinks.
But I do have to wonder if Krispy Kreme’s troubles in the last couple of years are partly related to the possibility that people are paying attention to nutrition and to what they eat.
Will we see a day, in my lifetime or after, where no one eats cake, doughnuts or ice cream?
You can read about the report at http://www.pcrm.org.
For the record, here are what the report called the five most fattening drinks:
1. Robeks P-Nut Power Shake: 1,125 calories, 48 g fat, 99 g sugar.
2. Krispy Kreme Berries & Kreme Chiller: 960 calories, 40 g fat, 115 g sugar.
3. Dunkin’ Donuts Strawberry Banana Smoothie: 700 calories, 40 g, 132 g sugar.
4. Starbucks Mint Mocha Chip Frappiccino: 590 calories, 22 g fat, 79 g sugar.
5. Steak ‘n Shake: Strawberry Breakfast Fruit Smoothies: 548 calories, 11 g fat, 83 g sugar.
