Fruit Smoothie Nutrition Facts

Smoothies are characterized by their chilled, frozen and blended ingredients. Fruit smoothies, for example, combine a variety of fruits and ingredients to form a specific flavor that contains various vitamins, minerals, nutrients and antioxidants. The ingredients and serving size play an important role in determining the individual nutrition facts for fruit smoothies.

Features

Fruit smoothies can be made from various ingredients, but most smoothies will contain the same basic ingredients. The first ingredients include some type of fruit juice or liquid such as orange juice, pineapple juice orange juice, milk or soy milk. A blend of fresh or frozen fruit can be added with bananas, pineapple and berries being the most popular choices. Other common ingredients include yogurt, peanut butter or sherbet that is added for taste and texture.

Considerations

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Commercially prepared fruit smoothies will often feature several considerations for “add-on” ingredients. For example, Juice Stop, a popular smoothie cafe, offers several nutritious additives, each with a specific purpose. The “daily blend” has essential vitamins and minerals while the “power blend” has soy protein and whey protein to promote muscle and tissue growth. Other add-ons include herbs, creatine and grape seed extract.

Size

Calories in fruit smoothies are dependent on the ingredients, amount of carbohydrates and serving size. Most 24-oz. fruit smoothies will contain about 300 to 400 calories with less than 5 g of protein and fat. The large -- 22-oz. -- strawberry banana smoothie from McDonald’s, for example, contains 330 calories, 1 g of total fat, 3 g of protein and 77 g of total carbohydrates. The bench press fruit smoothie from Juice Stop contains a significant amount of calories due to the ingredients. Starting with skim milk, the bench press also features protein powder, yogurt and bananas.

Benefits

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Fruit smoothies have several benefits that promote a balanced, healthy diet. Numerous vitamins and minerals are found naturally in the fruit juices and fresh fruit while additional nutrients can be added to the smoothie. Vitamin C and calcium are two of the most common nutrients in fruit smoothies. The McDonald’s smoothie, for example, contains 10 percent of the daily recommended intake of calcium and 110 percent of vitamin C.

Potential

Creating your own fruit smoothie gives you the ability to control the overall nutrition including calories, sugar and vitamins while creating a personalized flavor. A banana fruit smoothie that uses 1/4-cup orange juice, 1/2-cup low-fat yogurt, one small banana and 1/4-tsp. of honey will contain 212 calories, 3 g of dietary fiber, 40 g of carbohydrates and 6 g of protein.