‘Healthy’ smoothies from Bougie LA supermarket Erewhon contain more calories than a large Frappuccino from Starbucks – and a similar amount as a McDonald’s Big Mac burger, nutritionists warn.
The celebrity-endorsed drinks are believed to contain approximately 700 calories and nearly 80 grams of sugar – 10 times as much as a Krispy Kreme donut – per 20 oz serving.
For comparison, a large Sugar Cookie Almond Milk Frappuccino from Starbucks contains 440 calories and 74 grams of sugar.
The coffee chain’s popular drinks have previously been labeled ‘full of excessive sugar and calories’ by international health experts.
Erewhons Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie — designed by the model and influencer — costs $18 and claims to be “skin supporting” and “wellness supporting.”
However, Alabama-based dietitian Carolyn Williams told DailyMail.com: ‘It won’t improve your skin any more than another smoothie with fresh fruit in it.’
Rather than “inspiring good decision-making and healthier communities” as claimed by the celebrity-favorite supermarket, these products risk significant weight gain if eaten frequently and are packed with expensive supplements that are effectively useless, experts say, as well as a ton sugar.
Erewhon’s Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie will cost you an eye-watering $18
Angie, a fitness influencer, tried to make Hailey’s smoothie at home and calculated a total of 548 calories
DailyMail.com attempted to contact Erewhon for 48 hours to obtain the smoothie’s nutritional information, which is not on the website, but Erewhon said this information was not available.
TikTok user James Anderson contacted Erewhon’s customer service team in September 2023 and was told in an email seen by DailyMail.com that Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie contains “approximately 700 calories.”
In the absence of detailed official nutritional information, content creators have tried to recreate the smoothie to gauge how calorie-dense it is.
The ingredients, as listed on the website, are: Malk Almond Milk, Organic Bananas, Organic Strawberries, Organic Avocado, Organic Dates, Organic Maple Syrup, Vital Proteins Vanilla Collagen, Vanilla Stevia, Sea Moss, Organic Coconut Cream, and Driscoll’s Organic Strawberry Glaze.
In Erewhon’s Instagram post announcing the smoothie, they also mention hyaluronic acid as part of the concoction.
Mrs Williams said: ‘You get fruit, avocados and fat.
‘Sea moss is a type of seaweed that is thought to provide certain nutritional benefits, but large studies have not yet proven this.
“The coconut cream tends to be very high in calories, as it is thicker than even canned coconut milk.”
Driscoll’s Organic Strawberry Frosting is most commonly used as a dessert topper to top off items like ice cream and cheesecake.
Mrs Williams said: ‘It’s funny that they used Driscoll’s Organic Strawberry Glaze. This contains a lot of added sugar.’
Collagen is a protein that occurs naturally in the body but is often promoted as a supplement to improve skin, nails and hair.
‘There are some suggested benefits of collagen, not necessarily on physical appearance, but there has been some research into how collagen can potentially make bones stronger and protect against bone loss and joint pain,’ says Ms Williams.
“But you don’t look any better from the outside.”
As for the hyaluronic acid, Ms Williams said: ‘I have never seen any research showing that it has a nutritional benefit when added to food.
“Just because it plays that role in the body doesn’t necessarily mean that consuming it through food or through a smoothie means it’s going to do those things.”
‘I was surprised that they used maple syrup in addition to dates; it is not necessary. Between the dates and the 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 nutritionists.
In an explainer last year, California dietitian Zoë Atlas explained, “Natural sugars are still sugar and are just as likely to cause blood glucose spikes or other adverse metabolic health effects as regular table sugar.”
On TikTok, Angie, a fitness influencer with more than 200,000 followers, shared a video of herself making the strawberry frosting smoothie using the store’s recipe. She calculates that the drink contains about 548 calories.
Michelle Murphy, a blogger on Medium, also recreated the Hailey Bieber smoothie and calculated that it contains almost 600 calories.
“That’s a lot for a smoothie,” Ms. Williams said. “It’s a lot for a meal – and this is just a drink that I assume you drink as a supplement.” She guessed the drink would contain “at least 400 calories.”
Olivia Rodrigo’s collaboration with Erewhon is her good 4 hr GUTS Smoothie, which contains sea buckthorn and pomegranate kombucha
Another ‘healthy’ smoothie offering from Erewhon is the ‘good 4 hr GUTS Smoothie’, priced at $18, designed by singer Olivia Rodrigo to coincide with 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, mango, acai, coconut cream and avocados.
The sea buckthorn and ion gut support “isn’t going to do much,” Ms Williams said.
“There’s a lot of things in here that I don’t think are necessarily bad, but I don’t think they’ll do anything or that they’re worse than money.”
“It’s not something you should go out and buy because it’s going to make you healthier,” 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 that Rodrigo’s smoothie contained “at least 400 calories.”
If someone were to drink it every day, “it’s not going to be a superfood or something that’s going to revolutionize your health.”
Emma Chamberlain’s ‘High Protein’ Cold Brew Cookie Smoothie also costs $18 and is estimated to contain more than 600 calories
Next up is social media personality Emma Chamberlain’s ‘high-protein’ 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.
Ms Williams said: ‘It has a little more protein than the other two, you’ll probably get 15-25 grams of protein – so at least that will keep you full.
‘The coconut meat and coconut cream are quite high in calories and fat. That’s going to add a significant amount of calories.”
If you include the caramel, dates and cookie crumble, “this becomes at least 600 calories,” she said.
“I think of this more as a pretty big treat and not something to eat every day.” Most of my meals are under 600 calories,” she said.
“It has less fiber because it doesn’t have as much fruit in it,” Ms Williams added.
Another popular smoothie from Erewhon is the Coconut Cloud Smoothie, which has an aesthetic light blue color.
It contains almond milk, pineapple, banana, avocado, almond butter, vanilla collagen, vanilla stevia, blue majik and coconut cream.
Blue majik is a brand of spirulina, a type of algae. ‘There has been research into the potential health benefits of spirulina, but there are no large studies; there is nothing hugely compelling,” Ms Williams said.
‘This looks a little more complete than some of the others. But again, it will be quite high in calories. I would again think close to 400 calories or more.’
“This won’t be the only thing that changes your health.”
