Many people drink vitamin water and think they’re getting a healthy drink, but that’s like thinking cotton candy is a good fat-free food. Let’s look at the fine print on a vitamin water bottle. The flavor we’ll be investigating for this article is kiwi-strawberry, which the label suggests will enhance your “focus.”
The first thing we notice about the ingredients is that there’s no mention of kiwi or strawberry, just “natural flavor,” which could be anything from sugar to MSG. In fact, a bottle of the purported “nutrient-enhanced water drink” of kiwi and strawberry, the label states that this health drink contains less than 1% fruit juice. What is really in this vitaminized water? Is it a healthy drink? Upon closer inspection, we see that it is actually a bottle filled with distilled and deionized water, sugar, isolated vitamins and minerals.
One nutritional fact to keep in mind on the vitamin water label is that each bottle contains 2.5 servings. This is where the amount of sugar can be misleading because the label reveals only 13g of sugar, but that’s per serving. Multiply 13g by 2.5 servings and you get a whopping 32.5 grams of sugar in every bottle of vitamin water, more than most sodas. You see, the first ingredient listed on the label, after dead, demineralized 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 with less flavor and more of a chemical aftertaste. I was only able to take a few sips before I began to clearly “focus” on how bad this product is and how clever the manufacturer is to make it seem like a healthy drink.
Now, let’s take a look at the “vitamins” found in this strawberry kiwi vitamin water “nutrient-enriched drink.” According to the label, each serving contains 10% of the daily requirements for vitamins A, B3, B6, B12 and B5 and a hefty 40% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin C. The problem is that these “vitamins” are not they are attached to any whole grain food like strawberries or kiwis.
Remember, those whole foods were missing the ingredients. Therefore, the living enzymes needed to help your body absorb the vitamins into your cells are not there. It’s a nutritional fact that whole foods like fruits and vegetables contain live enzymes, which act as catalysts for vitamins and minerals to work in cells. Without these whole-food properties, isolated vitamins are not easily absorbed by the body and are most likely flushed down the toilet. So how many of those vitamins in the vitamin water are actually being used by the body? Probably as many as you could get from eating cotton candy.
If you really want great-tasting healthy drink formulas that actually enhance the benefits of drinking water, then you need to search the internet. There are some great all-natural health drink formulas that contain live enzymes, real whole-food vitamins, and more nutrients than you could ever get from a box of vitamin water, but you won’t find those superior health drink products at the convenience store. You have to look beyond the sales gimmicks, read labels carefully, learn about live enzymes, whole foods, and how the body absorbs nutrients. You can find all this information on the net. If you’re serious about your health and fitness and want more than just a hack, search the web. Look up nutrition information on whole foods, all natural foods, and healthy beverage products to truly enhance the benefits of drinking water or whatever else you’re putting into your body.