Vitamin Water… The Healthy Choice?

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Getting sick of the same old boring high quality H20? Do you want to drink something with a little more “kick” to it? A little more flavor to it? Why don’t you try the more delicious H20 alternative, Vitamin Water! Vitamin Water is a flavored water that is enhanced with your daily essential vitamins… brilliant! Flavor and daily essentials all in one! What could be better?! What if I told you that Vitamin Water actually is not as great as it sounds…

Over the past couple of years Vitamin Water has been extremely popular and is looked at as a healthy option. However, the human population has not looked far passed the title of the drink. Most humans usually think of “healthy” when they see the words “vitamins” or “water”, so that could lead to the common misconception of why people think Vitamin Water is good for you.

The truth is Vitamin Water is not only not good for you, it is terrible for you. One thing that most people do not know is that Vitamin Water is a subsidiary of Coca Cola, which is a privately owned company (Is 1). Right off the bat, you should not expect Vitamin Water to be the healthiest drink of all time. According to Fitday, “a single bottle of Vitamin Water contains 33 grams of sugar, more than most 12-ounce cans of regular soda.” That is eight teaspoons of sugar. Insanity. Drinking a bottle of Vitamin Water is equivalent to eating eight Life Savers and an Altoid (Are 1). Unreal! Not only that, Vitamin Water contains citric acid, a weak organic acid, which is known to wear down tooth enamel if it is consumed excessively (Is 1). Finally, according to Fitday, Vitamin Water contains “The sweetener, crystalline fructose… as there have been concerns raised about its propensity to play a role in causing chemically produced liver damage, or hepatotoxicity.” So, in reality, this drink can be as bad or worse than a soda.

Incredible.

Incredible.

As an alternative to water and Vitamin Water, you should try to add a splash of your favorite juice to the water to give it some taste or maybe drop a lemon into your glass (Vitamin 1). By doing this, you will be consuming way less sugar and you will be drinking a tastier drink. It’s a win-win situation!

So, the next time you pick up a Vitamin Water, remember that you might not be making the “healthiest” choice…

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

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Works Cited

“Are Vitamin Waters Healthy or Harmful?” / Nutrition. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

“Candy Experiments: Vitaminwater: Candy in Disguise.” Candy Experiments: Vitaminwater: Candy in Disguise. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

“Is Glaceau Vitamin Water Really Good for You?” / Nutrition / Healthy Eating. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

“Vitamin Water Health Facts.” LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

4 thoughts on “Vitamin Water… The Healthy Choice?

  1. Azhane Morris

    Adam, if it makes a difference, I never drank vitamin water for the so called vitamins and minerals inside of the bottle. I usually just drank it to try it or to limit how much soda I would drink.
    WAIT! WHAT? Now I didn’t know vitamin water had the same effects as soda. That’s really interesting. That makes me reconsider vitamin water, but then again I’ve heard this for soda too and it has decreased the amount of soda I drink to some degree, but I still drink it from time to time. That is very hypocritical of me. I just realized I’m willing to cut vitamin water 100% out of my diet, but not soda… weird…..
    I completely agree with adding things to your water. I usually love my water when it is naturally flavored. I love lemon water a lot and usually get it at restaurants. I made detox water once and added mint leaves, lemon, lime, cucumbers and something else, I forgot, but it was horrible.
    Lastly, this idea kind of goes hand in hand with Andrew’s lesson on “Are Sugary Drinks Bad For You?” Andrew would probably agree diet sodas and vitamin waters are in the same playing field. Another student in class would agree with your blog as well. She did one similar to yours on diet coke.

  2. Ha Young Kim

    Interesting post!! I was reading your post and thought that maybe its not only vitamin water that has hidden secrets behind it. I found out that 100 % orange juice, which are sold in the grocery markets are not as good as how commercials or advertisements make it sounds to be. Before reading article about this, I really thought that 100 % orange juice had 100% orange juice in it. However, the article says that the squeezed orange juice is stored in a big jar and take the oxygen out, which makes the juice flavorless. They could store this “no taste” orange juice up to one year because this would not get spoiled, since there’s no oxygen in it. Then, the producers add flavor pacts later on when they want to make a final product. After reading this article, I was really shocked, because I loved drinking orange juice in the morning. From now on, I need to find another drink to substitute orange juice.

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/08/16/dirty-little-secret-orange-juice-is-artificially-flavored-to-taste-like-oranges.aspx

  3. Weng Ee Then

    This is a great post! I feel like I keep telling my friends how terrible vitamin water is for them and they just don’t listen, maybe I should show them this post. I think the fact that Coca-cola owns something is a major red flag to a lot of people. It screams “I am just as unhealthy as coke, run away!”. But ok for the people who are like that I’m here to enlighten you, Coca-cola owns A LOT of things. For example, Dasani (the water brand), glaceau smartwater (fancy water brand), minute maid etc. There is a very long list to be found here http://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/all/. So if we’re questioning vitamin water, we should also question these other brands.

  4. Jordan David Unsworth

    Very interesting post. I have always consumed vitamin water and never knew it was bad for you. I was wondering if there was any difference with what flavor of vitamin water you use because I know vitamin water came out with vitamin water zero. I also completely forgot it was owned by coca cola which is always known to cause some sort of a stir with health nuts. Very interesting post none the less.

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