Editorial: Coffee Might Be Expanding Your Waistline

By ChuckH on July 17, 2024

Cappuccino

Your coffee habit might be making you fat.

I love a good cup of morning joe. No, I am not talking about a third-rate crappy news show. A cup of coffee is a staple part of breakfast around the globe. America's appetite for caffeinated drinks has led to the success of multiple coffee franchises. Coffee is a healthy addition to your diet in many ways, and I have written several articles on it over the years. Unfortunately, coffee might be adding to America's obesity epidemic, but the problem is not coffee. Instead, the problem is likely what you are adding to it.

There is nothing quite as refreshing on a hot summer afternoon or evening as a cold blended coffee drink. I, personally, feel that blended coffees increase my energy and allow me to finish my workday. Purchases of frappe-type drinks have exploded over the past five years. The problem is that they are full of calories and they are pretty much a milkshake with coffee added. Allow me to illustrate the problem.

I found an excellent observational study that looked at almost 3,000 purchases at Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts in New York City. They found that customers averaged 63 calories for tea or coffee purchases and 238 calories for blended drinks. This means that the purchaser of a blended drink drank over 1/10 of the daily recommended caloric intake, assuming a 2,000 calorie per day diet. From the chart above, you can see many of the drinks listed are much worse and maybe as high as half of the daily calorie intake.

The bottom line: Blended coffees, lattes, iced coffees, and cappuccinos can have deceptively high-calorie counts. I recommend that you drink your coffee black. If you must add something to it, consider skim milk and low-sugar syrups. If you must have a frappe, remember you will have a large calorie excess to make up for.