Many people drink vitamin water and believe they are consuming a health drink, but that’s like believing cotton candy is fat free food. Let’s look at the small print on a bottle of vitamin water, or “nutrient enhanced water beverage”. The flavor we’ll investigate for this article is kiwi-strawberry, which the label suggests will improve your “focus”. The first thing we notice about the ingredients is that there is not one mention of kiwi or strawberry, only “natural flavor”, which could be anything from sugar to MSG. In fact, on this bottle of supposed kiwi-strawberry “nutrient enhanced water beverage” the label states that this health drink contains less than 1% fruit juice. What is really in this vitamin water and is it a health drink? Upon closer inspection we see that it is a bottle filled with distilled, de-ionized water, sugar, isolated vitamins and minerals.
One nutrition fact to note on the label of vitamin water is that each bottle contains 2.5 servings. This is where the amount of sugar can be deceiving because the label reveals only 13g of sugar, but that’s per serving. Multiply 13g times 2.5 servings and you’ve got a whopping 32.5 grams of sugar in each bottle of vitamin water, that’s more than most sodas. You see, the first ingredient listed on the label, after the dead, de-mineralized water, is crystalline fructose, which might best be described as liquid cotton candy. That’s what this bottle of pink vitamin water tasted like-liquid cotton candy, only less flavor and more of a chemical aftertaste. I could only handle a few sips before beginning to clearly “focus” on how very bad this product is, and how sneaky the manufacturer is to make it look like a health drink.
Now, let’s take a good look at the “vitamins” that are in this “nutrient enhanced beverage” of kiwi-strawberry vitamin water. According to the label, each serving contains 10% of your daily requirements for Vitamins A, B3, B6, B12, and B5 and a hefty 40% of your daily allowance of Vitamin C. The problem is that these “vitamins” are not attached to any whole food like strawberries or kiwis. Remember, those whole foods were missing from the ingredients. Therefore, the live enzymes needed to help your body absorb the vitamins into your cells are not there. It is a nutrition fact that whole foods like fruits and vegetables contain live enzymes, which act as catalysts for vitamins and minerals to work in your cells. Without those whole food properties, vitamins are not easily absorbed by the body and are more than likely eliminated in the toilet. So, how many of those vitamins in the vitamin water are actually being put into use by the body? Probably about as many as you could get from eating cotton candy.
If you really want good tasting health drink formulas that truly enhance the benefits of drinking water, then you have to search the Internet. There are some excellent all natural health drink formulas that contain live enzymes, real whole food vitamins, and more nutrients than you could ever get from a case of vitamin water, but you won’t find these superior health drinks at the convenience store. You need to look past the sales gimmicks, read labels carefully, learn about live enzymes, whole foods, and how the body absorbs nutrients. You can find all of this information on the net. If you are serious about your health and fitness and want something more than a gimmick, search the web. Look for nutrition facts about whole foods, all natural foods and health drink products to truly enhance the benefits of drinking water or anything else you are putting in your body.
