The Truth About Vitamin Water

Recently, vitamin water has become very popular – especially among the fitfam people. It’s supposed to be a healthy substitute for water when working out and just in general, so I get the appeal. I mean, who wants to drink ordinary water when you can have one that’s coloured and flavoured. For quite some time now, vitamin water has been marketed as “healthy” and being one drawn to colourful things, I have been interested in it.

We drink a particular brand of vitamin water at home, and so I mentioned to someone I wanted to try a new brand. This person then told me vitamin water actually isn’t healthy. Of course, I had to do my own research about this.

What You Need To Know About Vitamin Water

• According to Authority Nutrition, vitamin water contains a lot of liquid sugar and may contain just as much fructose as coke, and most of these drinks still contain calories. Depending on the brand of vitamin water and the country it’s being made, regular 16-20 oz bottles of vitamin water contain almost as many grams of sugar and calories as many 12 oz cans of soda. Lighter (or zero) versions of vitamin water are better, but still contain crystalline fructose and other natural sweeteners which can keep you craving sweet foods and drinks – which will lead to consuming more calories than intended.

• Vitamin water is a sugar-sweetened beverage, and sugar-sweetened beverages are essentially fattening. When you are concerned with fitness and weight controls, what you drink is just as important as what you eat. Spark People says that when you consume calories in liquid form, your body doesn’t automatically compensate by making you eat less. So, all that happens is the calories from your drink are added on top the calories from what you eat. You’re drinking this vitamin water thinking it’s helping control your weight, whereas it can actually lead to weight gain, and possibly obesity, over time.

• Vitamin water may actually be exposing you to chronic diseases. According to research on Spark People, added sugar plays a big role in the epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases. Most bottles of vitamin water contain well above the recommended grams of added sugar in a diet. This is bad because added sugar is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, heart disease, the metabolic syndrome and even cancer.

• Both Authority Nutrition and Spark People confirm that we already get a good amount of the vitamins in vitamin water from our diet. All types of Vitamin water contain B-vitamins (50-120% of the RDI) and vitamin C (50-150% of the RDI). Some types may have smaller amounts of vitamins A and E, and the minerals potassium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and chromium. Whatever the case is, you get plenty of these from the food you eat, and the body simply excretes the excess it has no use for. At the end of the day, you are paying for your excreta.

The bottom line is vitamin water is simply another sugary beverage that has been presented to us as something we need to improve our health. There are no miraculous health turnarounds or benefits from copious absorption of these drinks. You should stick to drinking regular water or, if you really want to add a kick to you water, infused water.

Research Points: Authority Nutrition; Spark People