Food Talk And Fabulous Finds - Starbucks Frapps

Ok, so yesterday me and my sis went to Starbucks and she bought me a Tall, white Mocha light Frapp with no whip. It was really good and after looking up its calorie content, the website claims that it only has 160 calories which is not that bad. But it also says that its not a milk based product, but when you go to another page on the Starbucks website, it describes the drink as a mixture of coffee with milk and white syrup. My question is, what are the real ingredients of this drink and what makes it 'light' as opposed to regular frapps. Also, another thing that scared me was that even the light version still had 25 grams of sugar! What are 'sugar alcohols'? How does it compare to regular sugar?

You can look up sugar alcohols but I'll tell you what I know of them.

Sugar alcohols aren't sugar. They have little calories, if any and are used quite often as a substitute for sugar in sweet treats such as candy and ice cream. Lots of people have problems with sugar alcohols including stomach cramps, bloating and other stomach issues. Personally, I stay away from sugar alcohols. Your best bet at starbucks is probably to get an iced coffee with skim milk and either no sweetener or add stevia or splenda to it.

Did I make a bad choice for having this?

I wouldn't say you made a bad choice, I'm just not sugar alcohols are the healthiest thing around. Anything that can seriously upset your stomach from eating it, probably isn't exactly best for your body. Not to say that you had an upset stomach due to them but I find them questionable. If you don't have issues eating or drinking items with sugar alcohols, don't mind that they are artificial and you want sweet treats but you want to avoid sugar, then they may be something for you to have.

Personally, I avoid sugar alcohols but I also avoid Starbucks :)