Trends in the Consumption of Coffee and Coffee Additions Among U.S. Adults Aged 20+ Years, The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003-2018.

Abstract

Background: Moderate coffee consumption has been associated with various health benefits. However, coffee consumption is often accompanied by the addition of milk, non-dairy creamer, sugar, or sugar substitutes, which can contribute to an increased consumption of energy from added sugar and saturated fat.

Objective: The objective of this study is to characterize trends in the consumption of coffee and coffee additions among adults in the United States (U.S.) from 2003 to 2018.

Design: This study is a serial cross-sectional analysis.

Participants/setting: This study analyzed a sample of U.S. adults aged 20+ years (n = 30,459) from eight-cycle of the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2003-2004 to 2017-2018.

Main outcomes and measures: The main outcomes of this study are the daily consumption of coffee and coffee additions in both grams and calories assessing using 24-hour diet recalls.

Statistical analyses performed: Survey-weighted linear regression and analysis of variance are applied in this study.

Results: From 2003-2018, the consumption of total coffee among U.S. adults was stable by weight (from 373 to 378 g/day; difference: 4.49 g/d; p=0.791 for trend), but the energy consumed from total coffee increased from 43 to 60 kcal/day (difference: 17 kcal/day; p <0.001 for trend). In 2017-2018, the mean (± SE) total coffee consumption was 378 ± 16.7 g/day (equivalent to 1.67 eight-oz cups/day), among which 40.9 g/day was consumed as coffee additions. Although the most common coffee additions by weight were dairy milk (21.4 g/day), followed by non-dairy creamer (8.1 g/day) and sugar (4.4 g/day), non-dairy creamer contributed the largest amount of energy (19 kcal/day), followed by sugar (16 kcal/day) and dairy milk (11 kcal/day). Higher total coffee consumption was observed among men, non-Hispanic White adults, and individuals with higher income compared with their counterparts.

Conclusions: From 2003 to 2018, the estimated energy consumed from coffee has increased among U.S. adults aged 20+ years, primarily due to an increased consumption of non-dairy creamer.