Coffee on a college campus seems like a no-brainer. Whether it’s early mornings, or late night pick-me-ups, caffeine tends to deliver, and makes dreaded all-nighters bearable for University students. But many people don’t realize what they are putting into their bodies while chugging caffeinated drinks with cream and sugar.

University of Illinois Department of Kinesiology and Community Health Assistant Professor, Ruopeng An, began researching the effects of this by looking into the additives that Americans put into their coffee and tea. In his final research paper, An indicates that “the purpose of this study was to examine the consumption of coffee and tea with add-ins (e.g. sugar, cream) in relation to energy, sugar and fat intake among the U.S. adults 18 years of age and above.”

“The goal was to really drill down the individual components of what folks are drinking, and knowing what those caloric intakes are in the coffee and tea, such as sugar, cream and flavoring syrups,” said An.

An used data compiled from a 2001 to 2012 study conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey that used “a cross-sectional sample of 13,185 and 6,215 adults who reported coffee and tea consumption in in-person 24-hour dietary recalls, respectively.”

Approximately 67.5% of coffee consumers drank coffee with caloric add-ins, and about 33.4% of tea consumers always drank tea with caloric add-ins. Based on the findings, sugar, sugar substitute, cream, cream substitute, half-and-half and whole or reduced-fat milk were among the most popular add-ins for coffee. Sugar, sugar substitute, honey and whole or reduced-fat milk were among the most popular add-ins for tea.

With that information, An and his colleagues created a coding-like system that tracked each specific food and ingredient that people were adding to their drinks.

“We built these codes based on regulations from the USDA for each food and add-in. It took us quite some time to develop, but we were able to utilize the statistical data modeling as our data source based on that information,” An said.

In An’s research paper, he discussed that among coffee consumers, “females, young and middle-aged adults (18-64 years of age), and racial/ethnic minorities, were more likely to consume caloric add-ins in combination with coffee compared with males, older adults (65 years of age and above), and non-Hispanic whites, respectively.

An’s goal with conducting his research is to alert and inform adults about what they are consuming.

For tea consumers, “females, older adults (65 years of age and above), non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics, adults with college education and above, non-obese adults, and adults diagnosed with diabetes, were more likely to consume caloric add-ins in combination with tea compared with males, young adults (18-34 years of age), non-Hispanic whites, adults with high school or lower education, obese adults, and adults without a diabetes diagnosis, respectively,” according to An’s research paper.

According to An, on average, people are going to consume over 100 more calories with those drink add-ins. If we take that into account, on average that is approximately one pound of added weight.

“We all know that the U.S. is undergoing a major increase in the obesity rate over the last 30 years. When people consume more calories, that reduces their energy and decreases activity level, leading to gained weight over time,” An said.

University students vary in their coffee selections, with some being health-conscious in their choices and others choosing to indulge instead.

“I always get an espresso,” said Fransisco Sobral, senior in Engineering. “I go with this option because I’ve been told health wise it’s more concentrated, and has less calories associated with it. I never do add-ins.”

Ashley Fieber, a sophomore in LAS, explained that the amount of calories in add-ins are something she has never considered.

“I’ve never really thought about the amount of calories in bigger drinks,” Fieber said. “It wouldn’t make me change my order, though some days I just have to get a frappuccino with everything in it.”

Hannah Uhler, a sophomore in AHS, explained that she opts out of coffee and sticks to other drink selections.

“I tend to usually stick to iced tea and lemonades,” Uhler said. “I don’t really add more sugar in, because they are already so sweet, but knowing the health effects doesn’t change my mind.”

Moving forward, An wants to remind everyone to adhere to the tips outlined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: don’t do the extra flavoring, don’t use sugar sweetening, and opt for the low fat milk option instead.

So the next time you’re in line at Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, remember to “skip the whip” and “get back to basics.” Without all the additives, it’s still guaranteed to wake you up.