We love our coffee. The days we don't take it black, we'll put just a teeny bit of creamer into the cup. Pretty color, yummy taste. What could be wrong with that?
Plenty, according to the folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Here are five tidbits -- some bad, some hopeful -- from the April edition of Nutrition Action Healthletter:
1. Does this creamer make me look fat? Well, no, if you really use only a teaspoon of it. What are 10 calories and half a gram of saturated fat? Actually, 14.83 calories and 0.99 saturated fat grams in Coffee-Mate, the newsletter quotes the Nestle people as saying. Most people use triple that amount.
2. Big enough for you? The consumer group tells us that even if we use a teaspoon, it won't flavor what's become the norm in drink size. A typical coffee mug holds 8 to 12 ounces; a teaspoon would flavor 6 ounces.
3. But . . . but . . . but . . . the label says it's fat-free! If a product has less than 0.5 grams of fat per serving -- trans fat, saturated fat or total fat -- a manufacturer can round the number down to zero. So, if an unrounded teaspoon has 0.27 grams of fat and you add a rounded teaspoon to a warm beverage a few times a day . . . well, just like in No. 1, the numbers add up.
4. Must we drink our coffee black? The public interest folks will not leave us spoon-less. They give approval to two fat-free liquid creamers: International Delight and Land O'Lakes Half & Half.
5. Anything else to add? Oh, yes. Try milk. Yum.
