Sugar In Coffee
For most people, a hot cup of coffee is how to start the day. While some people might prefer having black coffee, others lean towards masking the bitter taste of black coffee with sweeteners like sugar or creamer. However, whatever option you choose, using sweeteners in coffee is an established habit that is not going anywhere soon.
Although coffee is a healthy beverage with many proven benefits due to its antioxidants, some extra additives like sugar can make it harmful.
What makes sugar harmful? What if I like having my coffee sweetened? How much sugar is too much sugar? Read on to find out.
What Makes Sugar in Coffee So Harmful
While a little sugar seems okay, over time, it could be detrimental to our health. Added sugar has been shown to increase the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiovascular diseases.
If you are obese and trying to lose weight, added sugar in your coffee is enough to ruin your target weight goal and increase your risk of obesity-related diseases like diabetes.
There is also your dental health to consider, as increased sugar consumption leads to tooth decay (dental caries).
How Much Sugar Should We Put in Espresso?
Choosing how much coffee to put in your coffee depends on your daily intake of sugar. This includes other sources of free sugar like ketchup, sugar-sweetened soda, maple syrups, chocolates, pastries etc.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults take free sugar less than 10% of their total energy intake, and going down to less than 5% has additional health benefits. If you cannot do without sugar in your coffee, do your best to cut them down as much as you can to prevent long-term risks associated with excessive consumption of sugar.
Healthier Alternatives to Using Sugar in Coffee
If you do not like black coffee, you could use other natural sweeteners instead, like agave, stevia, unsweetened cocoa powder, and coconut sugar.
Choose an alternative that sits well with you. Stevia has been said to be the perfect sugar substitute. In fact, you might not even notice the difference.
However, natural sweetener or not, use in moderation because, like Paracelsus rightly puts it, all things are poison, and nothing is without poison. It is the dose that makes it so poisonous.
FAQ
How bad is sugar in your coffee?
Sugar in your coffee in itself is not bad. It is the amount and number of times you take it that adds up to lead to harmful effects on your health like obesity and dental caries.
How much sugar should you have in coffee?
The amount of sugar to have in your coffee depends on your daily intake of free sugar. Always keep it to less than 10% of your daily intake of free sugar.
Is it better to drink coffee with or without sugar?
It is always better to drink coffee without sugar as it is healthier with plenty of benefits. Adding sugar to coffee has been said to change the molecules in coffee, and this may affect the benefits coffee offers.
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