Smooth, Mint or Dubai Style: The Chocolate Shake Line-Up Compared
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Herbalife's chocolate shakes differ more in their ingredients than their numbers. Smooth Chocolate uses cocoa powder and stevia. Mint Chocolate adds chocolate bits and sucralose. Dubai Style Chocolate comes in a smaller 500 g tub with 19 servings. Cookie Crunch adds cocoa crisps. All four give 18 g of protein per serving with milk.
The line-up, by the numbers
Four chocolate-leaning tubs is a nice problem to have. Herbalife's UK pages say very little about how each flavour tastes, so this comparison sticks to what the labels can prove. Every figure is per 26 g serving made with 250 ml of semi-skimmed milk.
| Per serving with milk | Smooth Chocolate | Mint Chocolate | Dubai Style Chocolate | Cookie Crunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 227 kcal | 221 kcal | 218 kcal | 227 kcal |
| Protein | 18 g | 18 g | 18 g | 18 g |
| Carbohydrate | 21 g | 21 g | 18 g | 21 g |
| Sugars | 18 g | 20 g | 17 g | 18 g |
| Fibre | 5 g | 4 g | 5 g | 5 g |
| Fat | 6.6 g | 7 g | 7 g | 6.6 g |
| Saturates | 3.1 g | 3.0 g | 3.2 g | 3.0 g |
| Salt | 0.6 g | 0.6 g | 0.8 g | 0.6 g |
| Tub and servings | 550 g, 21 | 550 g, 21 | 500 g, 19 | 550 g, 21 |
| Sweetener | Steviol glycosides | Sucralose | Sucralose | Sucralose |
| Allergens | Soy, oat | Soy, oat | Soy, oat | Soy, oat |
The spread is narrow. The biggest gaps are 3 g of sugars between Dubai Style and Mint, and 0.2 g of salt on Dubai Style. If you want the detail behind each row, our guide to reading a Herbalife label walks through it.
What all four share
Underneath the cocoa, the base recipe is the same. Each lists soy protein isolate as its first ingredient, followed by fructose and inulin. Each carries the Formula 1 vitamin and mineral blend, and each gives 5.6 to 5.8 mg of iron and 405 to 423 mg of calcium per serving with milk. Herbalife counts 25 key vitamins and minerals in Smooth, Mint and Cookie Crunch, and 26 in Dubai Style.
There is one quiet difference in the small print. Smooth, Mint and Cookie Crunch list flaxseed powder plus papaya, parsley, blueberry and pomegranate powders. The Dubai Style Chocolate ingredients list includes none of these.
Smooth Chocolate: the purist
Smooth Chocolate gets its flavour from cocoa powder and natural flavouring, with caramel as its colour. It is the only one of the four sweetened with steviol glycosides, which Herbalife describes as a sweetener from a natural source. Herbalife also lists it as having no artificial colours or flavours.
Mixing ideas. Blend with three or four ice cubes, as Herbalife suggests, for a thicker drink. Half a frozen banana turns it into something closer to a milkshake, with extra calories to count.
Mint Chocolate: the after-dinner one, before breakfast
Mint Chocolate contains chocolate bits at 3.8% of the powder, made from sugar, cocoa mass and cocoa butter. That helps explain why it has the highest sugars of the group, at 20 g. The green colour comes from copper complexes of chlorophyllins. Herbalife lists it as having no artificial flavours.
Mixing ideas. For a colder, thicker mint drink, blend with plenty of ice. A handful of spinach keeps the colour theme going and adds vegetables to breakfast.
Dubai Style Chocolate: the limited edition
Dubai Style Chocolate is listed by Herbalife as a limited edition. It combines fat-reduced cocoa powder with chocolate bits and flavouring. Two points are worth knowing before you buy.
- The tub is smaller. It holds 500 g and 19 servings, against 550 g and 21 servings for the others. A month of daily shakes runs out two days sooner.
- No pistachio appears in the ingredients. The Dubai chocolate trend is famous for pistachio, but this label declares soy and oat only. The style comes from flavouring.
It also has the most useful dairy-free instruction of the four. Herbalife suggests two scoops with two scoops of Vegan Protein Drink Mix and 300 ml of water. Made that way, a serving gives 203 kcal and 24 g of protein.
Honourable mention: Cookie Crunch
Cookie Crunch is not strictly a chocolate shake, but it shares the family tree. Its ingredients include cocoa crisps made from rice flour, corn flour, sugar, cocoa powder and rice fibre. Nutritionally it matches Smooth Chocolate almost exactly, apart from 0.1 g less saturated fat. The formula is gluten-free, according to Herbalife.
Mixing ideas. A shaker keeps it quick on a weekday. At the weekend, blend it with ice and a pinch of cinnamon to lean into the biscuit theme.
So which one?
- You prefer stevia to sucralose. Smooth Chocolate is the only option.
- You want the lowest sugars. Dubai Style Chocolate, at 17 g with milk.
- You want a dairy-free recipe on the label. Dubai Style Chocolate lists one with Vegan Protein Drink Mix.
- You get bored easily. Keep two tubs open and alternate. Our guide to 30 days of shake breakfasts covers how to plan for flavour fatigue.
Whichever you choose, it is the same meal replacement underneath. For what Formula 1 is designed to do, see our science explainer, or browse the full Formula 1 range.
Meal replacement products are not suitable for children, or for pregnant or breastfeeding women without medical advice. Anyone with a medical condition or taking medication, including GLP-1 weight-loss injections, should speak to their GP first.
Frequently asked questions
Which Herbalife chocolate shake has the least sugar?
Dubai Style Chocolate, at 17 g per serving with semi-skimmed milk. Of that, 12 g comes from the milk.
Does Dubai Style Chocolate contain nuts?
Its declared allergens are soy and oat, and no pistachio is listed. Always check the pack you receive, as recipes can change.
Which chocolate flavour uses stevia?
Smooth Chocolate uses steviol glycosides. Mint Chocolate, Dubai Style Chocolate and Cookie Crunch use sucralose.
Are the chocolate shakes gluten-free?
Herbalife lists all four as gluten-free. They contain gluten-free oat fibre, so they still carry an oat allergen declaration.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any nutrition programme.