You can drink coffee creamer on its own. However, before you go pour a cold tall glass of it, let’s go over why its not a good idea if you plan on drinking it in excess.
Coffee Creamer Nutrition
You’ll understand why drinking coffee creamer is not a smart move when you review the comparison of coffee creamer versus 2% milk in the table below.
A serving size of creamer is generally a tablespoon as listed in the nutrition facts on the label. We suspect most people add a slight bit more than a tablespoon when drinking coffee.
What you see below are the nutrition facts for a full glass (8 fl. oz. or 1 cup) of creamer versus milk.
In summary, if you drink a cup of creamer, you will consume an excessive amount of calories, fat, and added sugar.
The calories in 8 ounces of Coffee Mate French Vanilla is roughly equivalent to the calories in a McDonald’s Big Mac. Furthermore, the added sugar is slightly higher than the added sugar in a 20-ounce Mtn Dew. To make things worse, creamer lacks the beneficial vitamins & minerals that are found in milk.
Based on these nutrition facts alone, you can understand why its best not to drink coffee creamer straight from a glass. In simple terms, its extremely unhealthy to drink an overabundance of it.
| Nestle Coffee Mate – French Vanilla | 2% Milk | |
|---|---|---|
| Serving Size | 8 fl. oz. | 8 fl. oz. |
| Calories | 560 | 140 |
| Total Fat | 24g | 5g |
| Saturated Fat | 0g | 3g |
| Trans Fat | 0g | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 0g | 25mg |
| Sodium | 80mg | 120mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 80g | 14g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0g | 0g |
| Total Sugars | 80g | 14g |
| Includes Added Sugars | 80g | 0g |
| Protein | 0g | 9g |
| Vitamin D | 0% | 10% |
| Calcium | 0% | 25% |
| Iron | 0% | 0% |
| Potassium | 0% | 10% |
| Vitamin A | 0% | 15% |
Ingredients
Ingredients will vary by brand, but let’s take a look at the ingredients of two popular creamers to give you an idea of what is in them.
Let’s first look at Coffee Mate French Vanilla creamer that was featured above in the nutrition facts. Its ingredients are as follows: Water, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (High Oleic Soybean And/or High Oleic Canola), And Less Than 2% Of Micellar Casein (A Milk Derivative), Mono- And Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Cellulose Gel, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan.
As you can see, the primary ingredients are water, sugar, and vegetable oil. Of course, water is not an issue but the sugar and vegetable oil as primary ingredients are two reasons why you should limited the amount of coffee creamer consumed.
Coffee Mate Natural Bliss Sweet Cream is a coffee creamer with a bit better ingredients. It contains the following: Skim Milk, Cream, Sugar, Buttermilk, Soybean Oil, Gellan Gum, Natural Flavor.
While this creamer has better ingredients compared to many other creamers, it still has a lot of calories, sugar, and fat to where drinking it in excess is unhealthy.
Why Is Coffee Creamer Unhealthy?
Coffee creamer is designed to provide a boost of flavor in small quantities. Manufacturers load it with sugar and flavoring so that a little goes a long way in your coffee.
Its not overwhelming unhealthy consumed in small sizes of, say, a tablespoon a day in your coffee. However, coffee creamer is certainly unhealthy in excess. By excess, we aren’t just talking about a glass full.
For example, say you have three coffees per day and add two tablespoons of Coffee Mate French Vanilla creamer in each cup you have. You will have consumed 210 calories, 9 grams of total fat, 30 grams of carbs, and 30 grams of added sugar just from creamer.
Will Drinking Coffee Creamer Make You Sick?
There is not a lot of data out there of how people feel after drinking coffee creamer. Honestly, we have no desire to find out by conducting our own experiment.
However, we suspect at least some people would have gastrointestinal issues such as stomach aches, diarrhea, or vomiting. Long-term overconsumption of coffee creamer is unhealthy and can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other serious health problems.
Final Thoughts
There is nothing saying you can’t drink straight coffee creamer. There are no laws against it. However, we highly recommend not doing so considering how unhealthy it is.
Routinely drinking coffee creamer in excess could lead to serious health issues such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, tooth decay, and many additional negative side effects.
If you opt to consume coffee creamer, we highly suggest doing so in moderation where the amount consumed fits into an otherwise healthy diet.
