10 Unhealthiest Coffee Creamers You May Be Buying

Coffee creamer feels like an innocent food product, right? Sure, it might be more flavorful and intense than milk, but you're barely using any of it in your coffee — how bad can it be? As it turns out, pretty bad. Coffee creamer may give your morning coffee a boost of richness and sweetness, but it generally does so through a combination of a large amount of sugar, fat, and an unholy number of additives. Although it might not seem like it, coffee creamer generally contains no cream at all, and is instead a mass of vegetable oils, added sugars, emulsifiers, thickeners, flavoring agents, and artificial colors. While there are some healthy coffee creamers out there, other manufacturers make products with ingredient lists as long as your arm.

It's these products that you need to watch out for. Aside from the potential risks that additives like carrageenan and maltodextrin pose, creamers from brands like Coffee Mate and International Delight have nutritional profiles that are pretty shocking. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (or FDA) recommends that the average American should consume no more than 50 grams of added sugar and 20 grams of saturated fat per day when following a 2,000-calorie diet, and some creamers provide an outsized amount of these nutrients in tiny servings. In this article, we selected coffee creamers primarily based on their added sugar and saturated fat content, and also considered products that had certain additives and ingredients that may also make them unhealthy.

International Delight coffee creamers can be found pretty much everywhere, and the smooth, accessible taste of the French Vanilla flavor is a winner. However, that taste does come at a little bit of a cost on the nutrition front. International Delight French Vanilla Coffee Creamer is one of the sweetest creamers out there, and every tablespoon serving contains five grams of sugar — all of it added. There's no cream to be seen anywhere, and its fat comes instead from palm oil, which has a higher level of saturated fats than other vegetable oils (and that's all before you consider the sustainability concerns surrounding it).

If all of that wasn't bad enough, International Delight's coffee creamer is also crammed with a lengthy list of additives, preservatives, and thickeners. There are plenty here that could raise eyebrows, but one of them, dipotassium phosphate, is especially concerning. Dipotassium phosphate and other phosphate additives in foods, like coffee creamers, may be safe in small amounts for most people, but they can be dangerous for people who have chronic kidney disease, or CKD. Individuals with CKD and particularly advanced CKD should avoid prolonged use of products containing this additive.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out that a coffee creamer that tastes like white chocolate made by Starbucks isn't the healthiest product in the world. However, in case you were in any doubt, allow us to lay it out for you. Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Coffee Creamer is designed to give your drink a serious burst of sugary sweetness, and this shows in its nutritional content. Although Starbucks' creamer has a slightly better ingredients list than some other products out there, and is pleasingly short on (though not absent from) additives, it still manages to pack five grams of added sugar into each tablespoon serving. In addition, it has a gram of saturated fat in every portion.

Neither of these nutrient quantities is great, but it's the added sugar that we're especially concerned about here. Five grams per serving is 10% of the FDA's recommended daily allowance for added sugar, but other health organizations like the American Heart Association (or AHA) recommend that we consume even less. The AHA advises that men eat no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day, while women should aim for 25 grams as a maximum. If you take the AHA's recommended amount, Starbucks' creamer provides 20% of women's allowance of a nutrient that can, when eaten in high amounts, lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Dunkin' is famous for delicious donuts, so it isn't exactly known for producing healthy foods. That means it's likely not a huge shock that its coffee creamer isn't overly concerned with nutrition. True to form, Dunkin' Coffee Creamer is one of the unhealthiest out there, with an eyebrow-raising ingredients list and a poor nutritional profile. This creamer has components like carrageenan, dipotassium phosphate, and suspicious-sounding "natural flavors" in its ingredients, and that's all before you get to the high amounts of added sugar and saturated fat. In one tablespoon, there are five grams of added sugar and one gram of saturated fats (with 1.5 grams of total fats), with the latter coming from cream.

The fact that the saturated fats originate from a dairy source is fairly pleasing, but the amount isn't ideal. Limiting saturated fat intake is crucial to ensuring that your cholesterol levels remain in check and avoiding a rise in potentially harmful LDL cholesterol. When this form of cholesterol rises, it can lead to the buildup of plaque and a narrowing of arteries, contributing to heart disease risk. Dunkin's creamer may only provide 5% of your daily saturated fat, but use it several times a day or add more than a tablespoon (which is easily done) and you'll quickly consume way more than that.

It's a known truth when it comes to food that value for money often comes at the expense of nutritional quality, and Walmart's Great Value coffee creamer really proves this. Its Vanilla Caramel Coffee Creamer may only cost $2.76 for a 32 fl. oz. bottle, but in return, you get a dizzying number of ingredients and additives in what should be a simple product. Amongst these ingredients are carrageenan, dipotassium phosphate, sodium caseinate, natural and artificial flavor, and caramel coloring. That's before you get to the sugar and fat in the creamer, too — there's a lot to take in here. This is one of those Great Value items that isn't great quality.

Part of that sugar, which comes to five grams total per serving, also comes from corn syrup solids. Most commercial coffee creamers make do with just adding sugar, and the fact that Walmart's product includes these solids raises a few eyebrows, given how contentious corn syrup has become in recent years. Both high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup have been linked to higher rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and an increased appetite. While the Great Value version may include the regular kind, that doesn't make it significantly better for you.

There's no need to put up with coffee creamers solely made from milk anymore, people. These days, there are creamers to suit any and all dietary requirements and tastes, and dairy-free options like Coconut Cloud's Original Coconut Milk Creamer offer an alternative to cream-based products. However, there can sometimes be an assumption that products like this, which subtly brand themselves as a more "natural" choice, will also be healthier for you. The truth is that Coconut Cloud Original Coconut Milk Creamer actually contains more saturated fat than most coffee creamers available today, providing two grams per tablespoon serving, or 10% of your daily recommended amount.

It's worth remembering that saturated fats that come from plant sources like coconut cream (which is the case here) can have the same impact as others, and may contribute to higher rates of LDL cholesterol. It's also worth noting that the suggested serving size of eight grams here is pretty tiny; it's easy to add in way more than that inadvertently. Plus, while the packaging of this coconut milk creamer proudly proclaims that it's "minimally processed," we can't help but notice that the vast majority of ingredients are either powders, syrups, or other derivatives. We appreciate that there are no additives like carrageenan, but it's still way more processed than regular canned coconut milk.

Kroger's Smart Way Non Dairy Coffee Creamer has a few buzzy words in its name that make it appear a lot more healthy than it actually is; although "smart way" refers to its affordability, it's easy to assume that it's somehow a cannier nutritional choice. Well, it's not. Smart Way Non Dairy Coffee Creamer is, in fact, one of the most heavily processed creamers out there, with a sprawling ingredients list full of items we'd rather not see in our food. This creamer has corn syrup solids, vegetable oil (which, in itself, is made partly from palm oil), sodium tripolyphosphate, silicon dioxide, and dipotassium phosphate inside it. Oh, and it's got the vague-sounding "natural and artificial flavors" in it as well, which doesn't tell you much about what it's actually made of.

This dairy-free creamer also contains artificial colors, an ingredient we'd rather totally avoid. Artificial colors are created with petrochemicals (refined from fossil fuels), and while it's not clear which colors are used in Kroger's product, some of the most common ones have been associated with concerning side effects. Colors like Red 40 and Yellow 6 have been observed to produce neurobehavioral issues in kids. Your little ones may not be drinking this creamer, but you have to ask whether it's the kind of thing you want to be consuming, too.

We hate to break it to you, folks, but a coffee creamer that's designed to taste like a Snickers is never going to be healthy for you. If you needed any proof of this, look no further than Coffee Mate Snickers Coffee Creamer, an unhealthy product with a high amount of sugar and additives. Coffee Mate's creamer has five grams of added sugar (10% of the FDA's recommended daily limit for the nutrient), and its ingredients list is a sight to behold. There's no cream in sight, with the creamer instead getting its fat from vegetable oil. It also contains a dizzying array of ingredients, including artificial flavors, dipotassium phosphate, cellulose gum and cellulose gel, and carrageenan.

None of these are items that we particularly want in our foods, but the carrageenan listed is perhaps the most troubling of all. Carrageenan is a notably controversial additive that's used as an emulsifier in foods, and while it's approved by the FDA, experts and scientists have long questioned its long-term safety. The additive has been found to cause intestinal inflammation in animal studies, and some have pointed out the link between carrageenan use and rates of irritable bowel syndrome. Its presence is a good reason to avoid Coffee Mate's creamer — but if nothing else, its added sugar level is just way too high for us.

With a brand name like Natural Bliss, you might expect a product that's both free of artificial ingredients and has a wholesome nutritional profile. Is that what you get in Natural Bliss Milk and Sweet Cream Coffee Creamer? Not quite. It's certainly true that Natural Bliss' creamer has a way more pleasing ingredients list than most: It contains just four components, one of them being cream. This makes a nice change from other creamers on the market, which are typically vegetable oil-based and have a parade of additives included.

However, this creamer's nutritional profile still makes it pretty unhealthy. Natural Bliss Milk and Sweet Cream Coffee Creamer has a gram of saturated fat and four grams of added sugar per serving, making it comparable to other products with more artificial inclusions. It's worth noting, too, that like other creamers, it contains 35 calories per serving. This is a fairly high amount for a tablespoon of food, and a calorie count that's easy to forget about. Creamer is a significant source of hidden calories, and adding too much can potentially contribute to a higher calorie consumption over time, which can then lead to metabolic stress, gastrointestinal issues, and longer-term health issues.

Sugar-free coffee creamers can feel like they're the holy grail: They give your coffee loads of extra flavor, without you having to consume any additional calories or go over the recommended daily limit for sugar intake. However, not all of them are quite what they seem, and if Kroger's Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee Creamer is anything to go by, then you should be a little concerned. This product may have no sugar, but it still manages to deliver 20 calories per serving. What's more, it gets its sweetness through maltodextrin, a sugar substitute that's not completely innocent.

In small servings, maltodextrin may be completely fine to consume, but question marks have been raised over its potential impact on gut health. A 2017 study published in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that maltodextrin can cause flare-ups of inflammation in your intestinal lining, making it a risk factor for chronic inflammation and associated diseases. Kroger's product isn't exactly innocent elsewhere either, boasting a seemingly never-ending list of additives and preservatives in its ingredients list. This creamer is far from the healthiest item on the market, folks.

Sometimes, you need to spice up your coffee — and Chobani Cinnamon Coffee Cake Coffee Creamer allows you to do just that. A splash of this creamer will turn your drink into an aromatic, rich, sprightly beverage that tastes like cinnamon coffee cake. The problem is that it takes quite a lot of sugar and fat to do so. Chobani's coffee creamer may look like it's a little classier than others, but it has just as much added sugar (five grams) and saturated fat (one gram) as the rest of them. Its ingredients list may be mercifully short, but nutritionally, it's still pretty unhealthy.

These two nutrients aren't the best for you separately, but when combined, they can affect your body in quite surprising ways. A lot of attention is placed on saturated fat and added sugar's impact on cardiovascular health, but researchers have also noted that high intake of them can have an effect on brain function. Ongoing evidence has pointed towards the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, being impaired by high-fat, high-sugar diets. You'd naturally have to drink a lot of this creamer over many years for it to have a significant effect in this one specific area, but it's important to think about how a product like this may feed into the bigger picture of your overall diet.