Is VitaminWater Healthy For Me?

What started out as an attempt by Coca-Cola to bridge the gap between soft drinks and water has quickly become the latest trend in thirst-quenching; the beverage in question is VitaminWater. Due to its name, questions of its nutrition have arisen. So, what’s the verdict?

Let’s back up for a minute. What exactly is VitaminWater, anyway? In short, it is water and sugar, with a few vitamins thrown in. The different types of drinks carry a variety of vitamins (C, B complex, E, etc.), which are supposed to be good for you…right? Well, yes. Vitamins certainly are helpful in promoting a healthy body and mind, but including them in a drink does not cancel out the beverage’s vice(s) — sugar, in this case.

So how much sugar is in VitaminWater? VitaminWater has roughly 33g of sugar per bottle, which is dangerously close to the 42g that a can of Coke contains. That’s nearly 8 teaspoons. It may not seem like a big deal to some people, but sugar consumption (and subsequent sugar overload that most North Americans see on a daily basis) can lead to some awful conditions. For instance, did you know that sugar feeds cancer cells? Sugar also promotes insulin resistance, which further propagates unnecessary fat storage. There’s also the rise of childhood obesity and type-2 diabetes which can be blamed on sugar as well. All in all, things aren’t looking too good for the sweet tooth.

VitaminWater does have beneficial vitamins which we all need. However, at what cost? Yes, VitaminWater Zero has no sugar and zero calories, and the Truvia sweetener may or may not be healthy for you (the jury’s still out on that one), but the fact remains that the regular VitaminWater is unhealthy for you due to high sugar content.

It seems these days that nutritional benefits in commercial food always go hand-in-hand with some sort of sweetener or high dose in sugar. What I’d like to see is for people to lay off the sweet tooth and drink some damn water!