Healthy Fitness Ideas

Water from the faucet is just so bor­ing and un-cool. But is Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter, with its kalei­do­scope of col­ors, trendy names like “endurance,” “power-c” and “vital-t” and celebrity-driven adver­tis­ing really a bet­ter choice? Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter is pitched by Jen­nifer Anis­ton, LeBron James, 50 Cent, Kelly Clark­son and Shaquille O’Neal, among oth­ers.
VitaminWater’s par­ent com­pany, Glaceau, (owned by Coca-Cola), mar­kets Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter by pro­mot­ing its sup­posed nutri­tional ben­e­fits, urg­ing con­sumers to “hydrate respon­si­bly. “ Is there really any nutri­tional sub­stance behind all the mar­ket­ing sizzle?

The Cen­ter for Sci­ence in the Pub­lic Inter­est (CSPI) doesn’t think so. CSPI has filed a class-action law­suit against Coca-Col for mak­ing what it says are decep­tive and unsub­stan­ti­ated claims on its Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter bev­er­ages. The suit alleges that VitaminWater’s web­site, mar­ket­ing copy, and labels inac­cu­rately claim that Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter is healthy, say­ing, for exam­ple, that “bal­ance cran-grapefruit” has “bioac­tive com­po­nents” that pro­mote “healthy, pain-free func­tion­ing of joints, struc­tural integrity of joints and bones” and that the nutri­ents in “power-c drag­on­fruit” “enable the body to exert phys­i­cal power by con­tribut­ing to the struc­tural integrity of the mus­cu­loskele­tal system.”

But let’s look at the nutri­tion label on a bot­tle of Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter. How does Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter com­pare to to soft drinks like Coke and thirst-quenchers like orange juice?

At the out­set, one 20 oz. bot­tle of Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter has 2 and ½ serv­ings. That means you would have to gulp down less than half the bot­tle to get the nutri­tion ben­e­fits (and calo­ries) on the label.  If you’re thirsty, and down the whole bot­tle, then you have to mul­ti­ply each num­ber on the label by 2.5. Here are the nutri­tion facts and ingre­di­ents from a bot­tle of “charge” Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter:

Serv­ing Size 8 fl oz; Serv­ings per Con­tainer 2.5

Calo­ries 50 Total Fat 0 g. Sodium 0 mg. Total Car­bo­hy­drate 13 g. Total Sugar 13 g. Pro­tein 0 g. Vit­a­min C 60%; Vit­a­min B3 10%; Vit­a­min B6 10%; Vit­a­min B12 10%; Vit­a­min B5 10%, Zinc 10%, Potas­sium 60 mgs. Ingre­di­ents: vapor distilled/deionized water, crys­talline fruc­tose, cit­ric acid, veg­etable juice (color), nat­ural fla­vor, ascor­bic acid (vit­a­min C), nat­ural fla­vor, vit­a­min E acetate, mag­ne­sium lac­tate (ele­crolyte), cal­cium lac­tate (elec­trolyte), zinc picol­i­nate, monopotas­sium phos­phate (elec­trolyte), niacin (B3), pan­tothenic acid (B5), pyri­dox­ine hydrochlo­ride (B6), cyanocobal­amine (B12).

As an elec­trolyte replace­ment drink, Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter com­pares poorly to brewed cof­fee, which pro­vides 124 mgs. of potas­sium per 6 oz. serv­ing. Orange juice is a bet­ter choice than both, pro­vid­ing 450 mgs. of Potas­sium per 8 oz. serv­ing, 3 times as much Potas­sium as a whole 20 oz. bot­tle of Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter. That same glass of orange juice pro­vides 130% of the RDA of Vit­a­min C, Vit­a­min B3 10%; Vit­a­min B6 10%; Vit­a­min B12 10%; Vit­a­min B5 10% and Zinc 10%. If you choose cal­cium and Vit­a­min D for­ti­fied orange juice, you’ll obtain these addi­tional nutri­ents as well. And then there’s the cost fac­tor. Ama­zon sells Trop­i­cana Pure Pre­mium Orange Juice with Cal­cium and Vit­a­min D, No Pulp, 128 oz. for $6.79. That’s about 40 cents per 8 oz. serv­ing. Ama­zon also offers a 6-pack of “revive” Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter — 20 oz. for $18.00. That’s $1.20 per 8 oz. serving.

Vit­a­m­in­Wa­ter does have fewer calo­ries and sugar than orange juice (110 calo­ries and 22 grams of sugar per 8 oz. serv­ing) but less much vit­a­min C, potas­sium and other nutrients.

Coke:                                       Vit­a­min Water:
27 g. sugar per 8 fl oz.            13 g. sugar per 8 fl oz.
97 calo­ries per 8 fl oz.            50 calo­ries per 8 fl oz.

Pros:

It’s not as bad for you as Coke, has no caf­feine or carbonation.

Unlike plain water, Vit­a­m­in­wa­ter comes in many dif­fer­ent fla­vors and colors.

Pos­si­bly impress strangers with your dis­pos­able income.

Cons:

It’s expen­sive, at $1.20 per serving

Not really a good source of elec­trolytes, espe­cially potas­sium, less than 10%  RDA per serving.

Rel­a­tively small amounts of added vitamins.

Plas­tic bot­tles cre­ate envi­ron­men­tal waste.  22 bil­lion plas­tic bot­tles will end up in a land­fill (Con­tainer Recy­cling Institute).

But if you’re look­ing to replace elec­trolytes after a gru­el­ing work­out, orange juice is the bet­ter bev­er­age option. Don’t agree? Leave a com­ment below.