How many times do you see a student drinking a frappuccino as they walk down the hallway or sit in class? Quite often, I would assume. It might even be you that is drinking away at your sweet, delicious beverage. The endless love for coffee by Pleasant Valley students and teenagers across the country has increased immensely over the last decade. The question is, why has this increase taken place? Although caffeine has been a contradictory topic of research, maybe the problem isn’t even caffeine. Have you taken a moment to go on Google or ask the barista making your drink about the sugar content you will soon be consuming? Whether you have or have not, you might want to reconsider how often you order your favorite Java Chip frappuccino, extra whip.

“The biggest concern is that there are a lot of questions about how much is too much, and what the adverse effects are,” Amy Branum, a statistician from the National Center for Health Statistics, explains about the increased intake of caffeine in young people. 73% of American children take in caffeine every day, most of it coming from coffee. Soda used to be the primary source of caffeine intake, but the numbers have dropped from 68 to 32%, meaning 32% of an American teenager’s caffeine intake comes from soda. During the same time frame, 2000-2010, the interest in and popularity of coffee rose from 10 to 24%.

A grande (16 oz.) frappuccino with whipped cream from Starbucks has 420 calories, 15 g of fat (9 of them saturated), 55 mg of cholesterol, and a dreadful 66 g of sugar. Numbers might not mean much to you unless you put them in perspective. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, by drinking this frappuccino you have consumed nearly one-fourth of your calories for the day, almost half of your saturated fat for the day (though the goal is to consume the least amount of saturated fat as possible), 18% of cholesterol for the day, and for the sugar…you have consumed approximately 2.5 times more than your daily value, varying slightly based on your gender. If you are a male, it is slightly less. Even though none of these numbers are healthy, the sugar content is clearly blown way out of proportion to what our body actually needs to process correctly.

In just one drink, if you want to even get back on track with a balanced sugar intake, you have to wait two and a half days to consume any sugar at all. With the American diet, it’s nearly impossible to achieve this. The food we are surrounded by is dangerous. A balanced sugar intake isn’t actually balanced because the majority of sugar we consume on a daily basis is added. Added sugar content cannot currently be found on many nutrition labels.

So what’s the big deal about so much sugar? The first problem is students’ oblivion to what they are drinking. Many people get the wrong idea that since they are drinking coffee, it must be okay because coffee is good for you, right? However, Hannah Gorsline, junior, knows this isn’t necessarily true as she states, “I modify how much I drink frappuccinos and Starbucks drinks because I can taste how sweet it is, and I am aware that these drinks are unhealthy even though they taste good.” Although coffee has been proven both to be good and bad for you over several years of debate, it does not matter because the amount of sugar in these drinks plows over any of coffee’s possible benefits. Sugar has been heavily researched and has been known to cause cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, obesity, and other health-related issues. The access America has to unhealthy food options is bad enough, and the crazy amounts of sugars found in typical teenage drinks (such as frappuccinos) are concerning. With so many Pleasant Valley teenagers sipping away at these coffee drinks, they might want to second guess what they are continuously putting into their bodies. If you’re looking for some alternatives, the Very Berry Hibiscus from Starbucks or iced lattes are ones to check out. Samina Abdullah, senior, says, “Check out the Orange Refresher from Starbucks. It’s a healthier option than some of the other drinks on the menu…so delicious.”