What’s really in your coffee cup? Expert warns about high added sugar
GULFPORT, Miss. (WXXV) — That quick drive-through coffee can feel like the perfect pick-me-up, but if you’re not looking at the nutrition facts, you might be sipping on a lot more sugar than you expect.
Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently targeted major coffee chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, calling them out on the high added sugar content in their beverages, but the question is: Do consumers really know how sweet their favorite drive through drinks can be?
We spoke with Dr. Jennifer L. Lemacks, a dietitian and professor with the University of Southern Mississippi to find out the risks consumers face long-term when they consistently indulge.
“We know from the available research that these are problematic for weight gain and obesity. And all of your cardiometabolic health issues — type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease. We’re now learning that there could be some impacts on the brain, relationships to dementia and other things,” said Dr. Lemacks.
According to the American Heart Association, men should consume no more than nine teaspoons, or 36 grams of added sugar per day. And for women, no more than six teaspoons or 25 grams. Meanwhile, some beverages served by Dunkin Donuts can contain well over 100 grams of added sugar — between four and six times the suggested daily amount.
Dr. Lemacks refers to these beverages as ‘desert drinks.’
“Our goal, most of the time, is moderation rather than elimination. I view a lot of these drinks like a desert, and I think that we introduce a lot of unnecessary calories with little nutrition benefit when we drink these high sugar drinks,” she said. “If we were able to just eliminate that from the diet, I think we would see very large health benefits from doing that at a population level.”
As for information availability, she says its important to have that nutrition information accessible and to pay attention to what we’re putting in our bodies.
“I think we’ve made some progress in requiring nutrition information being available on menues and so forth. We need to continue so that information is accessible to individuals so that we can see how many calories is in that drink, how much sugar is in that drink. So, I definitely think that making that information accessible should continue to be a priority,” said Dr. Lemacks.
Documents listing the nutrition information for these drinks can be found online through each company’s website.
