Hidden Sugars in Your Morning Coffee

Did you know that the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day? This amounts to an extra 350 calories. It is estimated that over 30 million Americans drink specialty coffees including mochas, lattes, espressos, café mochas, cappuccinos and frozen/iced coffee beverages daily. While coffee is a staple for many morning rituals, it’s also where excess sugar and calories are consumed. With little to no nutrition, these sugary beverages may offer a quick pick me up and sugar rush, but the sugar crash that follows can leave you feeling just as sleepy and hungry again an hour later. If you’ve been searching for places to cut calories in your diet, your morning cup of joe could be a great place to start.

Excess sugar in these beverages contributes to the development of obesity, tooth decay, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Reducing the added sugar in your coffee can have great health benefits over time and you may notice a reduced craving for sugars as well.

When too many calories of added sugar are consumed, there is less room for more nutrient-dense foods and drinks. It’s not necessary to avoid all sources of added sugars, however; when the amount of added sugar exceeds the recommendation, try to cut down.

Recommendations: The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the World Health Organization recommend less than 10 percent of calories come from added sugars. That's about 12 teaspoons (48 grams of sugar) in a 2,000-calorie diet.

At 25 teaspoons of sugar, Starbucks’ Hot Mulled Fruit contains more than double the recommended maximum adult daily intake. While a grande (medium) White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream from Starbucks contains 15 teaspoons, more than the daily amount recommended for an adult (based on a 2000 calorie diet)… in one beverage! A can of Coca-Cola contains about 9 teaspoons of sugar.

Sugar can be listed under many different names. Examples of sweeteners and sources of added sugars include: brown sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, maltose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, molasses, sucrose, white granulated sugar, agave nectar, evaporated cane juice, malt syrup, cane crystals, fruit juice concentrate, cane sugar, glucose, raw sugar, corn sweetener, syrup, crystalline fructose and invert sugar.

You can find information on the sugar content of many of your favorite specialty drinks here.

Tips for reducing sugar:
· Ask your barista to include one less pump or use sugar-free syrup or sweetener
· Order a smaller size
· Make your drink at home to gain more control over the ingredients used

Bottom Line: Plan to reduce the sugar in your coffee over the course of a few days or weeks. You’ll notice over time that you no longer crave as much sugar. Honey and agave are not necessarily “better” forms of sugar. Sugar is sugar. One might taste better to someone, but all added sugar contributes to added calories.

Written by: Stephanie Coburn, Wellness Workdays Dietetic Intern

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Rethink Your Drink

You’ve been awake since 6:00 a.m., you just had lunch and now you feel the afternoon slump creeping up on you. You’re thinking about reaching for a soda or a large flavored coffee. Does this scenario seem familiar? It’s time to rethink your drink!

It can be easy to dismiss the nutritional content of a drink; the sips go down so easily and beverages aren’t very filling so they can’t possibly be that caloric, right? Wrong. You might be surprised at how much sugar is in some popular drinks. Instead of listing out grams of sugar, it is more powerful to compare beverages to familiar, sugary snacks:

20 oz. Coca-Cola = 5 Little Debbie Swiss Rolls
23 oz. Arizona Green Tea = 20 Hershey Chocolate Kisses
32 oz. Gatorade = 5 Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups
16 oz. Dunkin Donuts Iced Caramel Latte = 3 ½ Krispy Cream Donuts

Now you probably wouldn’t eat three and a half Krispy Cream Donuts for your afternoon snack, but it’s much easier to consume the same amount of sugar when sipping it in your caramel latte. When you want to drink something other than water, what should you look for? Choose options with 0-5 grams of sugar per 12 ounces. Try coffee with one teaspoon of sugar and milk, or sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon or lime. Not sure if your favorite beverage meets our guidelines? Check this beverage guide from Harvard University.

Bottom Line: Identifying the amount of sugar in beverages can be difficult. Try to stick to drinks with 0-5 grams (about one teaspoon) of sugar per 12 ounces. If you’re trying to wean off a sweet drink, try cutting its sweetness by adding water as your taste buds adjust to less sugar.

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You Don't Need a Soda Ban to Cut Back on Sugary Calories

This ad may look familiar if you have been riding a New York City subway recently. Mayor Bloomberg’s focus on childhood and adult obesity is hard not to notice, and this campaign against the empty calories provided in sugar sweetened-beverages is definitely a step in the right direction. 

Unfortunately for Bloomberg, his efforts just took two steps back.  In late August, the USDA rejected the Mayor’s proposed plan to ban the use of food stamps, now known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, to purchase soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages in New York City. The ban was part of a two-year experiment that the Major had proposed as a way to fight the city’s increasing obesity epidemic.

Over 1.7 million New York City residents are on food stamps and 59.3% of New York City residents over 25 years old were obese as of 2009. But it is the inability to measure a relationship between those two figures that the USDA states as the reason why they denied the Mayor’s proposal. If we cannot measure change, how do we know our efforts are working?

But rather than focus on a need for a ban, why not instead consider what your grocery dollars go to towards rather than those sugary juices and sodas? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 20 people drinks the equivalent of 4 or more cans of soda per day. A 12-pack of 12-oz cans of Coca-Cola costs $5.29. * That breaks down to a cost of 0.44¢/can or a total of $1.76 for the 4 daily sodas. (In a typical vending machine, the cost increases to $1.00/can or $4.00 for your daily fix). 

Consider what else you could get in the grocery aisles for $1.76:

• 2 Granny Smith Apples (0.79¢ each)
• 1 box of Minute Brand Instant Brown Rice ($1.79 each)
• 1 10oz bag of Stop & Shop brand Spinach ($1.79 each)

Any of these choices will offer you a wealth of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that are lacking in the soda. And what are you missing out on? The 560 empty calories provided by the Coca-Cola. Even at $1.76 for 4 cans, that doesn’t sound like a bargain to me.

* Figure according to Peapod by Stop & Shop for the Boston-area