A diabetic mother has criticised Starbucks over the sugar content of their coffees and claimed she could have gone into a diabetic coma after drinking a ‘grande’ latte.
Liz Adams and her husband Paul, from Greater Manchester, stopped for a coffee at Michael Woods services in Gloucestershire on the way back from a holiday in Cornwall.
However after having a ‘grande’ latte Mrs Adams, 46, a bank manager, began to feel dizzy and experienced headaches.
She found her blood sugar level had rocketed from a healthy 6.5mmol/L (millimoles per litre) to 26.9mmol/L – forcing her to take two ‘corrective shots’ of insulin for fear of falling into a coma.
Liz Adams, 46, started to feel dizzy after drinking a ‘grande’ latte she purchased from Starbucks
Mrs Adams, a mother-of-one, claims she had no idea a latte contained 18g of sugar, which is 20 per cent of an adult female’s daily amount and the equivalent to half a can of Coca Cola.
She believes her life was put at risk and is calling on Starbucks to make sugar content more explicit to customers before they purchase a drink.
She has vowed never to buy from the coffee chain again.
A Starbucks spokesman said the nutritional information for all of their drinks was available on their website and their mobile app.
Mrs Adams believes her life was put at risk and is calling on Starbucks to make sugar content more explicit to customers before they purchase a drink
But the bank manager said she was still astounded by the amount of sugar in the drink.
Mrs Adams said: ‘I’m just shocked. I could have gone into a diabetic coma and died.
‘I think I managed it well due to the fact that I’ve been type one for 28 years. Someone younger wouldn’t have known what to do.
‘I wouldn’t drink half a can of coke, which has the same sugar content, except when I need to raise my sugar levels if they went low – so why would I want to drink the same amount of sugar in a latte?
‘It’s just coffee beans and milk, which I know has carbohydrates, but I didn’t expect it to have so much sugar – or any at all really.
‘It’s not the first time I’ve had a latte either…I have a Nespresso machine at home.
‘So it should be clearly labelled because 18 grams is a lot of sugar.’
She found her blood sugar level had rocketed from a healthy 6.5mmol/L (millimoles per litre) to 26.9mmol/L – forcing her to take two ‘corrective shots’ of insulin for fear of falling into a coma
The 46-year-old’s blood sugars returned to normal the next day and she contacted the firm to complain.
Starbucks allegedly replied saying there were ‘investigating’ and offered Mrs Adam a chart showing the sugar content in their drinks.
She said: ‘I want other people to know the content of the drinks before they buy them.
‘Drinks need to be labelled and people need to be aware how much sugar is in their drinks.
The 46-year-old’s blood sugars returned to normal the next day and she contacted the firm to complain
‘I was coming up to the services and I tested my sugar levels – they were at 6.5 which is perfect for me.
‘We went into the services and Paul bought two grande lattes with no syrups.
‘After I drank it I began to feel dizzy with a headache. I just know the signs when my blood sugars are going too high, I just know.
‘Then I took another reading and it was 26.9. I could have gone into a diabetic coma. That’s completely off the scale.
‘Luckily I didn’t go into a diabetic coma but I had to take two corrective insulin shots to bring my levels back down.
‘When I got home it was down to 18 and the next day it was back to normal.
‘If your sugars run too high you can have organ damage and even body parts can drop off due to lack of blood circulation.
‘What confuses me is milk has carbs, but that doesn’t explain how it could have so much sugar.
‘I’ve complained but Starbucks just sent me a chart with a list of all the contents of each drink.
‘I’m never drinking from Starbucks ever again.’
Simon Redfern, head of communications, Starbucks Europe, said: ‘We were concerned to learn of this customer’s experience in our store.
‘Starbucks lattes are made as standard with two shots of espresso and semi-skimmed milk, which contains naturally-occurring lactose. No sugar is added to a standard latte.
‘We display a full range of nutritional information on our website and on our mobile app to help customers with dietary requirements to make informed choices. Our baristas are always available to answer any questions that a customer may have.’