If you start your day with a piping hot cup of coffee, you’re in good company. Many other people do the same thing. The majority of individuals engage in this behavior. It is estimated that 62% of people living in the United States have at least one cup of coffee in their daily routine. Since not everyone like the taste of black coffee, it is common practice to add sweeteners and creamers to this kind of caffeinated beverage in order to reduce the acidity of the coffee and make the flavor of this caffeinated beverage more palatable to the tongue.
Studies have shown that starting your day with a cup of black coffee can improve your ability to concentrate, provide you with more energy for your workouts, and lower your risk of developing heart disease by 5–12% per cup in comparison to not drinking this popular beverage in the morning. Black coffee is coffee without any added flavors or sweeteners. The use of black coffee is rapidly growing in popularity as a morning beverage, and it is swiftly becoming one of the most popular drinks overall.
Does adding creamer to your coffee, which already has positive properties, make those properties less potent or does it just dilute them? To put it another way, can it really be said to be detrimental to your health? The following information on coffee creamer and the effect it has on one’s health is based on the advice of dietitians and other nutrition experts.
The great majority of coffee creamers that are sold in stores have a variety of ingredients in their make-up, including water, sugar, vegetable oil, flavorings, and stabilizers, to name just a few of the items on the laundry list. Milk or cream is often used, but only in negligible amounts; the bulk of the creaminess is achieved by the application of oil.
“A normal serving size of coffee creamer comprises around four grams of sugar in addition to one and a half grams of saturated fat,” said Haley Bishoff, RDN, owner of Rtsu Nutrition in Las Vegas.
Even if there is not an excessive amount of sugar or fat in one serving, it is essential to keep in mind that one tablespoon is all that is included in that portion size. If you consume several cups of coffee during the day and add many tablespoons of creamer to each one, you may find that your expenses start to mount up. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 recommend that people over the age of 2 should strive to keep their intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their daily calorie intake. This recommendation was made in light of the fact that added sugars have been linked to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. If you are following a diet that consists of 2,000 calories a day, you should make it a point to limit your sugar intake to less than 50 grams on a single occasion. The American Heart Association suggests that you maintain the quantity of saturated fat you eat on a daily basis at or below 13 grams. This recommendation is based on the fact that saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of heart disease.
The intuitive eating dietitian for Moms at Sarah Gold Nutrition, Sarah Anzlovar, MS, RDN, LDN, suggests that coffee creamer may be a better choice than many of the drinks sold at coffee shops, which may include more sugar and saturated fat than an average person should consume in a day.
If you make the bulk of your coffee at home, adding a dash of creamer won’t make or break your attempts to keep a balanced diet. This is especially true if you brew your coffee on a daily basis. If you feel that adding a dash of coffee creamer to your daily cup of joe brings you a sense of peace and pleasure, then there is no need for you to give it up completely.
According to Anzlovar, “enjoyment is a crucial component of both eating and drinking, and allowing enjoyable foods and drinks to be a part of your diet may help to build a healthy relationship with food.” “Taking pleasure in what you eat and drink is an essential part of the experience.”
In addition to this, there is the chance that using creamer in your coffee may bestow a significant number of extra advantages.
Coffee creamer that contains some healthy fats may help slow down the pace at which the body absorbs caffeine. This is because healthy fats help the body absorb nutrients more slowly. Anya Rosen is a practitioner of functional medicine and the founder of Birchwell Clinic. She has a Master of Science degree, as well as RD, LD, IFNCP, and CPT certifications. She goes on to say that this makes it easier on the adrenals, which ultimately results in more balanced energy.
Choose a coffee creamer that is created with high-quality ingredients, such as organic milk and cream or milk and cream derived from plants. This will ensure that you get the best flavor from your beverage. Jennifer Fiske, MS, RDN, LD suggests even blending your favorite creamer with dairy or plant-based milk and other spices like cinnamon for more creaminess and taste while maintaining a lower total fat and added sugar content in the beverage. This will give the beverage more flavor while keeping the total fat and added sugar content lower.