Study: Americans Aren’t Drinking More Coffee, Creamer Is Adding More Calories

Calories in Americans’ Coffee Rose Nearly 40 Percent Since 2003, Mostly Because of Creamer

Americans’ daily cup of coffee looks the same as it did in 2003, yet it carries nearly 40 percent more calories, according to a new analysis of federal health data. Adults are not drinking more of it. The extra calories came mostly from what they stirred in, and one ingredient leads the pack: non-dairy creamer.

By 2017-2018, creamer had become the biggest calorie source among everything added to coffee, and its own contribution had more than doubled, from under 8 calories a day to nearly 19. Those numbers look small, but they are averages across all U.S. adults, including people who skip coffee. Only about half of adults drink it daily, so a regular drinker likely takes in more.

Moderate coffee drinking is often linked to health benefits, and researchers at Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy wanted to know what is landing in the cup alongside it. Creamers and sweetener alternatives have become far more available in recent decades, but how Americans actually use them in coffee had not been extensively studied. Their paper is set to appear in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Survey of 30,459 Adults Shows Non-Dairy Creamer Calories Climbing

Researchers dug into the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a long-running federal project that asks Americans what they eat and drink. They pulled eight rounds covering 2003 through 2018 and kept 30,459 adults ages 20 and older who completed two detailed dietary interviews. Pregnant or breastfeeding women and a small number of people who reported extreme calorie intake were set aside.

Trained interviewers spoke with each participant twice, first in person and then by phone a few days later. Participants walked through everything they had eaten and drunk the previous day, including every coffee and everything added to it. Researchers sorted each drink into coffee and extras, such as milk, cream, creamer, sugar, and sweeteners, and broke premade drinks like lattes into their ingredients using government nutrition data. Results were adjusted to reflect all U.S. adults, and participants’ age, income, sleep, and work hours were recorded too, allowing comparisons between groups.

By 2018, Non-Dairy Creamer Calories Outweighed Sugar and Dairy Milk in Coffee

In 2017-2018, the average adult drank roughly one and two-thirds eight-ounce cups a day, nearly identical to 2003-2004, and about a tenth of that volume was add-ins rather than coffee. By weight, dairy milk was the most common add-in, with creamer second and sugar third. Calories told a different story, and the ranking flipped: creamer topped the list, sugar followed at 16 a day, and dairy milk at 11.

Creamer is calorie-dense, which helps explain the flip. Powdered creamer packs more calories per gram than sugar, based on the USDA values the researchers used, and the authors say its popularity likely reflects its convenience as a shelf-stable alternative to dairy cream, sold in the U.S. since the 1950s.

Other shifts were small, and none rivaled creamer. Non-dairy milks such as oat, almond, and coconut rose too but added far fewer calories, while dairy and sugar showed no significant change.

Habits varied by group in 2017-2018. Men drank more coffee than women, but women took in more calories from theirs. Non-Hispanic White adults and higher earners drank more than other groups, while non-Hispanic Black adults drank less. People who slept less or worked longer hours drank more, a pattern familiar to anyone who has leaned on a third cup during a rough week. The rise in coffee calories did not differ significantly between groups.

Creamer Calories May Offset Coffee’s Health Benefits

Earlier research has tied coffee drinking to lower risks of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and the Tufts team says added creamer could chip away at that. Non-dairy creamer is often made with hydrogenated (chemically hardened) oils, which can add trans fat or high amounts of saturated fat, depending on how they are processed. Roughly 20 percent of powder-based creamer, by weight, is saturated fat, which the authors say helps explain creamer’s outsized calorie contribution. Some creamers also contain emulsifiers, additives that keep ingredients blended, and one large earlier study linked certain emulsifiers to higher risks of prostate and breast cancer.

Researchers also cite a recent analysis of national survey participants. Black coffee and coffee with little added sugar or saturated fat were associated with a 14 percent lower risk of death from any cause compared with no coffee. No such benefit appeared for coffee with more than 5 grams of added sugar, a little over a teaspoon, or more than 1 gram of saturated fat per eight-ounce cup.

Extra coffee calories may also cancel out some of what Americans have saved by drinking less sugary soda, the authors say, though the paper does not measure that directly.

This study tracked what people consumed, not their health outcomes, so it cannot say whether creamer causes harm. It does show where the extra calories came from. Americans are not drinking more coffee, but they are stirring in more, and for anyone counting calories, creamer is the ingredient to watch.

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Disclaimer: This article is based on peer-reviewed scientific research but is intended for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a licensed physician, registered dietitian, or qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition or before making changes to diet or health routines.

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