Vitamin Water: Man vs. Nature
Years ago when I first heard about Vitamin Water, my initial thoughts were, “great, another crappy so-called health drink that people will think is good for them”. Back then I would tell my clients who asked me about it to stay away from it and that a good hint that it was crap was to see how much sugar was added to mask the “mediciney” flavor of the synthetic vitamins and minerals that were also added. Years later, I’m still helping others be healthy and Vitamin Water has blown up to the point that Coca Cola paid billions of dollars (that’s 4.1 to be exact) to the company that sells Vitamin Water in order to get a piece of this profitable “healthy water”. You know you have a successful product when the big guns at Coca Cola pay big bucks to buy you out. That’s successful in a financial sense, not in a health sense. You would think with all the money flying around for this product that it would be somewhat good for you. Unfortunately in this case that is not so.
What’s in a bottle of Vitamin Water?
At last count there are 16 flavors, or varieties, of Vitamin Water. I will use the flavor “Charge” as an example in this article. It’s the one that looks similar to the yellow-green Gatorade. The ingredients of one bottle of Charge is as follows: Vapor distilled, deionized water and/or reverse osmosis water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, monopotassium phosphate (electrolyte), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), natural flavor, dipotassium phosphate (electrolyte), magnesium lactate (electrolyte), gum acacia, calcium lactate (electrolyte), niacin (B3), ester gum, pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6), b-carotene (color) cyanocobalamin (B12). The nutrition facts on the label are: Serving size: 8 fl oz, Servings per container: 2.5; Amount per serving: Calories: 50; Total fat: 0g, Sodium: 0mg; Potassium: 60mg; Total carbohydrates: 13g; Sugar: 13g; Protein: 0g; Vitamin C: 40%; Vitamin B3: 20%; Vitamin B6: 20%; Vitamin B12: 20%; Vitamin B5: 20%; Potassium: 150mg per bottle.
Let’s dissect the label a bit, shall we?
Vapor distilled, deionized water and/or reverse osmosis water – Basically they took municipal tap water and filtered out all impurities to the point that nothing but hydrogen and oxygen are left in the water. Not only are the harmful contaminants removed but the healthful trace elements (minerals) as well. In other words, there’s no life to this water. This type of water is usually used in scientific research where impurities and trace elements may interfere with the study’s outcome. It is also commonly used as part of a supervised detoxification program where the distilled, deionized water attracts toxins in the body and then flushes them out of our system. Not only are toxins flushed out but nutrients are as well. The key point here is that this type of water has no life and when you drink it literally takes some of your life away as it goes through your body. This is why they add a bunch of electrolytes and vitamins to Vitamin Water, to give it some life. But the life given isn’t as good as you might expect. More on that later.
Crystalline fructose – This is what makes Vitamin Water (or should I say “break”) so harmful to one’s health. If you Google “fructose” what you’ll find is a sugar that is probably one of the biggest culprits or contributors to artherosclerosis, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Fructose is a difficult sugar for the body to metabolize and eliminate. Instead of this sugar being broken down into glucose and used as a fuel, it has to be broken down in the liver. As if the liver wasn’t busy enough (it does have over 500 functions). Also, since fructose hangs out in the body longer than it needs to be, it can create some serious damage to our cells when the sugar attaches to a protein molecule. This further damages the protein and it becomes toxic to the body. A classic example is when the sugar reacts with the collagen of the inner lining of an artery, plaque develops. These toxic combinations of sugars and proteins are called advanced glycation end-products (AGE) and are major contributors to how we age faster than we normally would. They produce a huge amount of free-radical stress to our systems. Our bodies are geared to handle this but to an extent. After that, we start to break down.
Citric acid – A preservative used along with ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to prevent spoilage. The ascorbic acid is not used for its health benefits but more so as a preservative. Real vitamin C is a complex of nutrients rather than an isolate like ascorbic acid. Its health benefits are not complete unless it exists as a complex.
Monopotassium phosphate – A salt providing potassium and phosphorus.
Ascorbic Acid – See citric acid above.
Natural flavor – This is an obscure term and can be misleading. The exact definition of natural flavorings & flavors from Title 21, Section 101, part 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations is as follows: 'The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.' In other words, anything that is “approved” as a food can be labeled under “natural flavor”. As long as it functions as a flavor and not add to the nutritional value of the food. Basically, we have no idea what concoction food processors put together in order to make their product taste good.
Dipotassium phosphate – Another salt acting as an electrolyte.
Magnesium lactate – A highly absorbable form of magnesium. Used as an electrolyte and not a bad ingredient.
Gum acacia – Used as a stabilizer to keep all the ingredients together.
Calcium lactate – A highly absorbable form of calcium. Also used as an electrolyte.
Niacin (B3) – A B vitamin in a synthetic form. When vitamins are listed in the ingredients they are actually isolated, synthetic forms made in a lab. They do not come from whole food sources the way nature intended for them to be. They’re man-made.
Ester gum – Another stabilizer to keep the ingredients together.
Pantothenic acid (B5) – Synthetic isolate form of vitamin B5.
Pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6) – Synthetic isolate of vitamin B6.
Beta-carotene – Synthetic beta-carotene used as a food coloring rather than contributing to the nutrition of the food. Beta-carotene is a precursor to Vitamin A. This brings to mind a study a few years ago that linked synthetic beta-carotene supplementation increased lung and prostate cancer risk and increased mortality rates of smokers. There’s just something about man trying to out-smart Mother Nature.
Cyanocobalamin (B12) – Synthetic isolate of vitamin B12.
If you look at the nutrition facts on the bottle you will see that there is 13 grams of sugar per serving. If there is 2.5 servings per bottle, that would be a total of 32.5 grams of sugar per bottle of Vitamin Water. That’s a lot of sugar for something that claims to be good for you. The paradox here is that Vitamin Water has a mystique about it that it “has to be healthy” just from its name alone and that it some how contributes to one’s vitality, but the reality is that it actually takes from one’s vitality. Think about it for a second. Vitamins and minerals as they come from nature occur as complexes with other nutrients in order for them to work properly. If they are consumed in isolate form, a certain imbalance occurs in which the body tries to correct. An example of this is the B vitamin complex. When only a few of the B vitamins are consumed, the total ratio of the B vitamin complex is thrown off and the body uses its own stores to re-establish order. Also, it takes energy to metabolize food and some foods take more out of us than others. Sugar, believe it or not, has zero nutrition. It actually takes life away from us. In order for the body to metabolize sugar, it needs to use its own resources to do so. B vitamins are commonly depleted in people who consume a lot of sugar in their diet. The fact that Vitamin Water uses fructose as its sugar is an insult to the public’s intelligence. Putting fructose in a so-called health drink is like having a cigarette after a work out. It just doesn’t make sense.
If you care about your health, stay away from Vitamin Water. You can do better. Get your daily vitamins and minerals from a whole foods-based diet and avoid processed foods. Eat more veggies than you think you already do. To make your bottled water more “healthy” add some good quality sea salt to it. I use sea salt from the Grain & Salt Society (in which you can get from Whole Foods Markets or most health food stores). Good sea salt should appear grayish in color. The more white the salt, the more refined it is. Place a pinch or so in your bottle and you’re good to go. If you work out, this is essential since when you sweat you lose trace minerals. The sea salt will help replace them. Also, if you find you cramp easily when working out, you’re probably deficient in trace minerals. It’s always good to have a bag of sea salt in your gym bag.
