A new study suggests Americans are getting more calories from their daily coffee, even though they’re drinking roughly the same amount. The surprising culprit isn’t sugar. It’s non-dairy creamer.
Researchers at Tufts University analyzed dietary reports from approximately 30,000 adults and found that average daily coffee calories climbed nearly 40%, from 43 to 60, between 2003 and 2018. Coffee consumption remained around 13 ounces daily.
The study, published October 19 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, raises a practical question: How much nutrition is hiding in your morning cup?
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The Coffee Additive That Overtook Sugar
By 2018, non-dairy creamer contributed approximately 18.5 calories per day, compared with 16 from sugar or syrup and 11 from dairy milk.
“We found that non-dairy creamer being added to coffee has now passed both sugar and dairy for its contribution to the total energy consumed from coffee,” said lead researcher Yongyi Pan, a PhD candidate at Tufts.
“Non-dairy creamers can be high in saturated fat, which is calorie dense. This could explain the increased calories that non-dairy creamer is contributing,” Pan explained.
The findings challenge the assumption that avoiding spoonfuls of sugar automatically makes coffee a lower-calorie choice.
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Why Researchers Are Paying Attention
Coffee itself wasn’t the main concern. Researchers were interested in how additions changed its nutritional profile.
“Coffee consumption has been associated with several health benefits,” said senior author Fang Fang Zhang, MD, PhD, a Tufts nutrition professor.
“However, coffee is often accompanied by the addition of sugar and cream, which can contribute to an increased consumption of calories from added sugar and saturated fat,” Zhang said.
Importantly, the analysis relied on self-reported diets collected through 2018. It cannot establish today’s coffee habits or prove that creamer causes weight gain.
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What to Check Before Your Next Cup
Start with the nutrition label. Compare calories, saturated fat, added sugar, and serving sizes. Then measure how much creamer actually goes into your cup.
Different formulations have different nutritional profiles, so non-dairy doesn’t automatically mean lower-calorie.
Bottom line: You don’t necessarily need to abandon coffee. Understanding what’s going into it may be the simplest place to start.
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