Nutrition Nugget: Dunkin's Protein Drinks

[00:00:28] So you may remember last year. So that was 2025 Starbucks came out with their protein drinks and I went into Starbucks, one of the locations by me in New York City, and I asked a ton of questions. Admittedly, I caused a little bit of a scene and you know that whole story you can find in our bonus episode from December 12th, 2025, nutrition nugget, Starbucks protein drinks.

[00:01:16] And so I looked at all that before I went into the store because of course I had lots of questions. So anyway, here's the scoop. The press release highlights that they're using protein milk. They highlight their partnership with Megan Thee Stallion for the campaign and the press release focused on protein refreshers and protein lattes.

[00:02:05]  Dunkin says, a medium beverage has 15 grams of protein. In the PDFI see that that's not entirely the case. The medium of some drinks had 10 grams, the large of some showed 13 grams. So whatever drink you prefer, please be sure that you're looking at those nutrition facts. And by the way, make sure that you're looking at all of the nutrition facts, not just that protein content.

[00:03:02] Of course they're, everything is their own brand, so I could only get information from them. And even then, it was sort of a bit of a guesstimate. Dunkin though is using lactate brand protein milk. So I'll go to those nutrition facts in a second. It was interesting, I mean, in the store they were kind, they let me take pictures of the latte, milk carton, and then of course I had more questions.

[00:03:55] I don't really know. But the only option in the stores, the Dunkin locations [00:04:00] that I went to was the lactate protein milk. The other curious thing is that on the menu in the store, like on the board that lights up, they highlight this almond protein MAA latte. So I now asked about that one and I said, so that's not almond milk.

[00:04:41] So we also have a nutrition nugget on coffee syrups that you can go back to on that one. And then I felt like we needed to look at the lactate brand. Milk, right? So lactate as a brand is lactose free dairy milk. It's [00:05:00] not a plant-based, you know, milk in air quotes. So what lactate says is they start with milk from cows, which they note are free of artificial growth hormone treatment.

[00:05:41] Now they also highlight that it's lactose-free. 2% protein milk is fortified with ultra filtered skim milk, which is higher in protein than regular milk. So this reminds me of when we talked about fair life, right? What they do to their milk. When we looked [00:06:00] at the Fairlife protein drinks, so that was a listener request, by the way.

[00:06:28] Zero grams of trans fat, 12 grams of total carbs, of which we have zero grams of fiber, 11 grams of total sugar, zero of which is added sugar, and then 13 grams of protein. And the micronutrients, the amounts are pretty low, like even though they've added vitamin A and vitamin D three. The amounts are still pretty low, and I will say I appreciate that there are not any sweeteners or emulsifiers in those ingredients.

[00:07:25] You know, I think as always, we need to carefully choose the other add-ins like flavorings and syrups and sweeteners and other things that they're putting into these drinks. And like I said before, you can certainly check Dunkin's website, their nutrition facts, PDF, to see if your favorite drink is there.

[00:08:07] It is okay for us to not protein pack every single thing that we consume. I get why Dunkin wants to jump on that bandwagon and just because they are doesn't necessarily mean you have to, but that's the scoop on Dunkin's protein drinks. Well, as always, I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media.

[00:08:51] Cecily Mak: Thank you, Jen. What a joy. I love your work. Thank you for continuing to do what you do. This is such an important perspective and place and I, I'm grateful to have been a part of it. [00:09:00]

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