Why vitamin water sucks!

There have been a couple situations lately with vitamin water that have really irked me.

The first was from my supervisor who is part of the diabetes program. She mentioned a client had been drinking vitamin water not realizing it contained sugar. Now for most people this would not be a major issue, other than empty calories, but for someone with diabetes this a potentially dangerous situation.

The second was a client who had been feeling tired and ill, and she mentioned she was drinking vitamin water to help her feel better. The client asked about the claim on the bottle suggesting to drink 1 bottle a day for best results. The way vitamin water markets itself is as a health product, which is totally misleading.      

Vitamin water, which is made of  water, sugar, artificial flavour and colour, and fortified with vitamins, markets itself as a health product to great effect. Everything from the label, to the name itself is designed to resemble a prescription.




While vitamin water does contain water and vitamins, as you can see from the label above, it also contains sugar, flavour additives, and some varieties contain artificial colour. Vitamin water is essentially flat coca cola fortified with vitamins, but coke isn't drunk to relieve illness or to be healthier.

The other tricky thing with the vitamin water label is the serving size. For sugar and calories the nutrition information is based on an 8oz serving, where the bottle itself contains 20oz (2.5 "servings"). I think it is fair to say that most people will drink the entire bottle. While a 12oz can of Coke contains 42 grams (~8.5 teaspoons) of added sugar, a bottle of vitamin water contains 32.5g (6.5 teaspoons) of added sugar.

While it may seem obvious to some that vitamin water is not going to make you healthier, it has a subtle affect. Especially in our fast paced lifestyle where it is not uncommon to experience days when you may not eat nutritiously. So why not grab a bottle of liquid vitamins?

But the fact of the matter is you would be better off taking a multivitamin down with tap water. This would save you both money and calories. But really your body will survive one day of poor eating, and you really shouldn't be relying on added vitamins anyway. There is little to no evidence that taking vitamins, most of which have been extracted from corn, will make you any healthier. While there is plenty of research showing a healthy diet will reduce your risk for chronic disease and improve your well being.

My first rant. Feels good!