SunnyD’s New Teen Energy Drink Has More Calories Than Coke

Image from <a href="http://sunnydx.com/" target="_blank">Sunny Delight Beverages Co.</a>

From the people who brought you the “fruit-flavored beverage” SunnyD comes a brand new product: SunnyD X, a caffeine- and taurine-free energy drink just for teens. For now, it’s available only in convenience stores in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. But Sunny Delight Beverages Co. said in a press release that it has big plans to market it at “venues and locations of interest to teens, such as concerts, sporting events, skate parks and beaches.”

David Zellen, the company’s associate marketing director, touted the beverage as “carbonated energy that is uniquely provided by a combination of three carbohydrates, as well as seven B-vitamins to help metabolize the carbohydrates into energy.” He added, “Simply put, SunnyD X offers the energy teens crave without the ingredients moms tell us concern them, such as caffeine and taurine. It’s a win-win.”

Here’s what he didn’t mention: SunnyD X’s mega-dose of sugar, a whopping 50 grams per 16-oz. serving. That adds up to a lot of calories: SunnyD X has 200 calories per 16-oz. serving, while an equal amount of Coca-Cola Classic has 187 calories and 52 grams of sugar.

I asked company spokeswoman Sydney McHugh whether the company was at all concerned about the teen drink, which contains just 5 percent juice, contributing to childhood obesity. “I can tell you that we chose to use sugar as a safer source of energy,” she wrote to me in an email. Then, she pointed me toward a press release in which Ellen Iobst, the company’s chief sustainability officer, bragged that the company had reduced its average calories per serving from 92 to 48 since 2007. “Socially, we need to be taking care of the communities where we do business and our employees,” she said. “This is a way to help alleviate the obesity epidemic.” Mind you, the calorie count in SunnyD X is more than quadruple that average.

Here’s the nutritional information for SunnyD X’s orange flavor. Check out the tongue-twisting list of ingredients, too.