Delicious? Of course. Nutritious? Well, that's the real question. With signs boasting it to be 100 percent fat free, many students assume that Alpine Bagels and Alpine Atrium's frozen yogurt is a healthy choice for a midday snack.
Across campus, Freshens fro-yo has become the standard by which students judge good frozen yogurt. Even after a new machine from Archibald Frozen Desserts was installed in Alpine Atrium, the frozen delicacy has retained its popularity.
Fro-yo has become a staple in many students' diets, and Alpine Atrium Manager Monte Tatum said staffers switch out flavors twice a day because the machines run out. The most popular flavors in the cafe are vanilla and cookies and cream. Tatum, who has worked for the University for eleven years, finds that fro-yo buyers frequently shy away from other menu items and that some purchase only a cup of fro-yo around mealtimes.
"I have no problem replacing a meal with fro-yo if I have a hankering for it," sophomore Catherine Cordeiro wrote in an e-mail. "At least I know I'm getting some calcium."
But Franca Alphin, director of health promotion at Duke Student Health, cautioned against substituting fro-yo for a meal.
"Fro-yo is not a meal replacement. It's not a 'meal,'" she wrote in an e-mail. "A meal should have a nice balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat. Frozen yogurt has proportionately more air and water whipped in than yogurt, so it's not a good source of protein, certainly not complex carbohydrates and can be very low in fat."
Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said he would be surprised if students had a scoopful as their only dinner. The dessert, however, does seem to be an attractive option for some dieters or students on-the-go.
Chris Sullivan, co-founder of Alpine Bagels, also characterized a fro-yo lunch as unhealthy, adding that a smoothie might be a better substitute.
"I am aware that many students use fro-yo as a meal replacement in that they are concerned about consuming too many calories, and so hold off on the meal and indulge in what they 'like' while perhaps saving some calories," Alphin said. "Frozen yogurt in its many versions is usually thought to be lower calorie than most ice creams. However, depending on the size of the portion, the toppings and whether it's full fat or low fat, sometimes the savings are not so great."
A seven-ounce cup of Alpine's fro-yo has about 240 calories, no fat and seven grams of protein, according to approximate nutrition facts from the Freshens Web site, whereas a half-cup of Ben and Jerry's vanilla ice cream has 190 calories, 14 grams of fat and 3 grams of protein.
Junior Emily Sherrard, a member of the Duke track and field and cross country teams, said the comparative nutrition value makes the sweet particularly enticing.
It is significantly lower in fat than ice cream, so I still feel like I am eating healthy when I have fro-yo for dessert," she said. "It is sort of a way for me to treat myself at the end of a long day of classes, practice and school work."
Sherrard added that the new Alpine machine from Archibald is health-oriented, with live and active cultures.
Although a cup of fro-yo may not be the best lunch a student could have, a cup of fro-yo as a snack every now and then is not necessarily unhealthy, Alphin said.
But the dessert's appeal with students indicates that is more than a snack-it's an experience, from the friendly faces who swipe students' food points to the very last spoonful in the cup.
"I love the fro-yo people," said sophomore Lindsay Levine, noting that the ritual extends beyond simply loving the dessert and choosing a favorite flavor.
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