Many of us have considered, or currently choose to drink vitamin water instead of regular water. My own husband has a flat of it in our pantry, so today is the day I give you (and my husband) the scoop on what is in Vitamin water (this has been a long time coming).
Vitamin water falls under the "natural health product" category, therefore, a nutrition facts table is not required. Today I'm looking at Glaceau Vitamin water which states it contains 120 calories/bottle. The fluid and vitamins are not a source of calories, therefore these 120 calories likely come from sugar, suggesting that the 591mL bottle contains approximately 30 grams of sugar.
30 grams, what does that even mean? One can of regular Coca-cola contains 39g sugar, so we're not far off from the amount of sugar in one can of coke. If quantifying the amount helps, 30g of sugar is 7.5 teaspoons of sugar (4g sugar= 1 teaspoon). Even I found this to be surprising because if you've tasted this Vitamin water, its actually kind of bland!
Now onto the vitamins. The bottle in my hands contains:
- 375 mcg RAE (Vitamin A)
- 5 mg Vitmin B3
- 2.5 mg Pantothenic acid
- 0.5 mg Vitamin B6
- 1.5 mcg Vitamin B12
- 150 mg Vitamin C
- 3.4 mg Vitamin E
- 100 mg Calcium
- 100 mcg Folate
Now lets look at how much of these vitamins and minerals we need in a day.
Health Canada's Daily Recommended Dietary Allowance of these vitamins and minerals for the typical adult age 19-50 is:
- Vitamin A- 700-900 mcg RAE
- Vitamin B3- 14-16 mg
- Panthothenic Acid- 5 mg
- Vitamin B6- 1.3-1.7 mg
- Vitamin B12- 2.4 mcg
- Vitamin C- 75-90 mg
- Vitamin E- 15 mg
- Calcium- 1000 mg
- Folate- 400 mcg
So what does this tell us? Yes, vitamin water contains vitamins, however, it also contains sugar, artificial colour, natural flavours whose source and contents are unknown, and other additives. An interesting point was that on the bottle I was analyzing, it also stated "made for coca-cola refreshments canada company."
In my professional opinion, if a vitamin "boost" is what you're looking for, then taking a daily multivitamin may be a better idea. The best option would be to simply eat the foods that contain many of these minerals and vitamins, as drinking this vitamin water would not provide the fibre natural food sources would contain.
Water or milk may be better beverage options, but as long as you understand what is in what you're drinking, the choice is up to you. Remember, any foods or drinks can fit into a diet, the key is always how much and how often!
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