Vitamin Water:
Good, Bad, or Ugly?

Vitamin water (sometimes called "enhanced water") has become widespread in recent years. Within an industry of beverages, it is the fastest growing sector.

After the company called Glaceau (pronounced to rhyme with lasso) created, and successfully marketed its "vitaminwater", many other companies have followed. Today Glaceau is part of Coca Cola: they bought it for some $4.1B in 2007.

When I saw vitamin water for the first time several years ago, it grabbed my attention immediately. That time, in a really smart marketing move, colorful bottles of vitamin water were placed on purpose near regular water, and not near sport drinks. Near plain bottles of regular water, brightly colored vitamin water stacks worked like a magnet on customers.

...Once I tasted it, and read the label, I liked it even better. What a great idea: purified water with vitamins that tastes great! Give me some more!

When I started to read (and write online) about dietary supplements, vitamin water fueled my curiosity again. This time it was more of a "research" interest. There were some questions to which I wanted to find answers for myself.

For example, if vitamin water is enriched with vitamins, should I keep taking my multivitamins?... Maybe I can just drink 2-3 bottles of this tasty liquid, instead of swallowing those smelly pills. (That was the time when I was taking multivitamin pills, but no more. About this later..)

So, I "followed a leader", and purchased all types of Glaceau vitamin water which I found in a supermarket. There were eight different kinds available: "revive", "energy", "essential", defense", "focus", "xxx", "multi-v" and "formula 50".

Here is my "research report". :-)

Let's start with...

• Almost every "external", visual aspect of Glaceau vitamin water deserves applause!
  The label design is almost minimalistic, but clear and practical. I mentioned already vivid colors that catch your eye when you are browsing through shelves in a store. Bottles with drinks of different colors put together look really aesthetically.
  
  Colors of icons on the right resemble actual colors of drinks. Click on icons to see larger images.

  To avoid any confusion: if a product label appears in the "Good" or "Bad" section, this does not mean that product is "good" or "bad". My goal was not to rate single drinks, but to look at the whole brand.

• There are no artificial colors and preservatives
  in Glaceau vitamin water - a definite plus!
  They use juices, or natural pigments for coloring.
  As of preservatives, I believe that citric acid which is present in all products serves as a preservative, in addition to its flavoring features.
  
  When I asked about this customer service, the reply was: "we do not use any preservatives in vitaminwater. the citric acid is simply for flavor."
  
  So be it... Every source I checked for citric acid mentioned it as both preservative and flavoring agent.

• Variety of flavors is pleasing, too.
  
  I was able to get eight kinds of vitamin water, but there is a total of fifteen flavors, according to their website. While writing this review, I was drinking the content of bottles, and can confirm that Glaceau has hired a really good flavorist.
  
  I have not decided yet what flavor is the best, but candidates are "xxx" (acai-blueberry-pomegranate), "focus" (kiwi-strawberry) and "energy" (tropical citrus).

• Do you ever read marketing messages on food packs, or bottles of drinks?..
  If you usually do not bother, take a minute and read the messages on Glaceau vitamin water: most of them are hilarious!
  
  This is not something like "A tradition of our company is to bring you only the best products, which will... bla-bla-bla.."

  These "messages in (I mean, ON) the bottle" are fresh, contemporary, with good humor - and a tint of cynicism, but not over the edge, which I liked.
  My favorite is the one on the drink called "essential", which makes fun of orange juice commercials (its icon is on the right).

• Very efficient customer service.
  I got a reply on my email with questions within one hour.

Strangely enough, this is all about vitamin water which I can classify as "good".

Which means, here comes...

• Ingredients list that I saw on the labels revealed that vitamin water drinks do not provide all required vitamins.
  
  Specifically, none of the drinks I purchased had vitamins D, B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin) and B7 (biotin). Why would Glaceau "skip" these vitamins, and not include them in its vitamin water? Why would they forego an opportunity to provide a "complete vitamin water"?..

  The clue to the answer can be found in characteristics of these missing vitamins.

  Vitamin D is a fat-soluble, rather than water-soluble vitamin. It is not a simple task to put in water a substance that does not dissolve there, and to make this water look like an attractive drink.

  There are two another fat-soluble vitamins - A and E, which are included in some of vitamin water drinks.You can identify those drinks without even looking on the label. These drinks are not clear liquids, they are blurry.
  
  One interesting case is the "energy" drink: it is blurry - but the label does not show vitamins A or E! The reason for the "energy" drink not to be transparent is beta-carotene which is used for color. Beta-carotene is a natural pigment of orange color, found in orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, which is an inactive form of vitamin A (it is converted to vitamin A in a liver). It is not soluble in water, hence the haziness of the drink.

  My guess was that manufacturer just could not add another non water-soluble vitamin (vitamin D) to these drinks without some negative impact. This was my "educated guess" regarding the lack of vitamin D in vitamin water, when I was writing an email with questions to the customer service.

  Regarding missing B vitamins my guess was the same (possible negative impact to the quality), but my reasoning was different. Vitamins of B complex are water-soluble, so they should not cause any visual effects.
  
  I assumed that because of their bitter taste and strong smell they were not included into vitamin water. Do you know that "vitamin" odor of multivitamin tablets? It comes from B vitamins.

  Were my guesses correct?
  Here is a quote from the email I received from customer service (all lower case, just as messages on bottle labels): "for the most part the vitamins we use must provide the benefits that the beverage intends. also, most of the vitamins need to be water soluble."
  
  What I conclude from this is that I was right in my guesses.
  "The benefits that the beverage intends" are pleasant taste and smell - not a vitamin balance. Vitamin water has no intent to provide you with the daily norm of vitamins that you need, because it was not designed for this. It is just another soft drink.
  So, do not stop taking your multivitamins...

• Amounts of vitamins included in Glaceau vitamin water vary from 25% DV (most vitamins in most drinks) to 250% DV (vitamin C in "essential" drink).
  
  Let's imagine you do not care about vitamins B1, B2, B7 and D - and decide to fill myself with several bottles of vitamin water to get the rest of vitamins.
  Are there any vitamin water side effects you should be aware of? Oh, yeah..

  Look at the amount of calories: 50 calories per serving times 2.5 servings in a bottle means 125 calories per bottle. To compare with, a can of regular Coca Cola (and Sprite, too) has 140 calories.

  So, if you are watching your calories, you would be better off not to rely on vitamin water to supply your daily vitamins. One bottle with lunch instead of usual soda might be not a bad idea. But as a replacement of a plain water? I don't think so. Too much sugar.

  Speaking about sugar...

• All vitamin water drinks which I purchased included crystalline fructose. Would you like to know what is this?..
  
  If you go to the Glaceau website, you can learn that crystalline fructose is "a high quality, natural sweetener that is the same as found in fruits and vegetables".

  Did you notice "the same as" part?
  It turns out, crystalline fructose is not derived from fruits or vegetables, as it may sound. In fact, it is derived from a high fructose corn syrup.
  
  How do I know?
  From the definition provided on Sugar Association website: "Crystalline fructose is produced by allowing the fructose to crystallize from a fructose-enriched corn syrup. The term “crystalline fructose” is listed in the ingredient statements of foods and beverages using this corn sweetener. It is important to understand that the “crystalline fructose” listed as an ingredient comes from cornstarch, not fruit."

  The source of crystalline fructose - high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS - by itself is a topic for another research. Opinions regarding HFCS cover a whole spectrum: from moderate excitement ("versatile, natural sweetener") by Corn refiners association, up to horror stories with a taste of conspiracy ("Pretty murky!") by some activist organizations.

  There is a recent article which may become a beginning of a larger campaign.
  
  The article called HFCS is not 'natural', says FDA was published on April 2, 2008 by FoodNavigator-USA.com, a "daily online news service", which "seeks out news stories and data of value to decision-makers in food and beverage development in Europe."
  What was the purpose of this publication, and who paid for it is not so important for the purposes of this review. I just want to show you that the topic of high fructose corn syrup is controversial, that's all.

  By the way, on bottle labels of vitamin water you can find a slogan: "the inside is natural. the outside is plastic." The intent of the slogan is to encourage recycling - but the claim has been made: the vitamin water is natural.
  Well, what I can say...
  
  If FDA will indeed determine that HFCS (and its derivatives) cannot be called 'natural', Glaceau (and many other firms) will need to change their labels. Some folks already think this statement is not accurate.

  Naturally, or not, each bottle of vitamin water contains 32.5 grams of sugar - this is almost 7 teaspoons of sugar! A can of Coke has 39 g, Sprite - 38 g.
  Bear this in mind next time you think about second (or more) bottle of any of these good tasting drinks.

Well, finally, it is time to turn to the least pleasant part...

In the beginning, I praised marketing messages on Glaceau bottles.
Now I am about to "grill them".

It is absolutely fine to present, to emphasize, and even to exaggerate (moderately) those features of a product which are positive and useful.
It might be acceptable NOT to stress some weak sides of a product (of course, if they are not dangerous).
And it is unacceptable to make claims which can mislead customers!

Regrettably, here are some questionable statements from Glaceau.

• On the label of "multi-v" vitamin water (icon on the right) we read that this is a "all-in-one product containing more of the nutrients you need".
  
  Wait a minute, what about those missing vitamins: D, B1, B2, B7? Don't we need them anymore on a daily basis?
  What about minerals like iodine, selenium, copper, and others which are not included in "multi-v"?
  What about the fact that except vitamin C, a bottle of "multi-v" contains only about 62% of all other vitamins presented there?
  
  My opinion: this drink cannot be called "all-in-one", containing "more of the nutrients you need".
  
  Silly me, I am reading bottle labels, and think that they should talk about what is actually in the bottle...

• Continuing with the same theme.
  
  Several products ("defense", "focus", "multi-v") have the following slogan on labels:
  "vitamin + water = all you need".
  
  Hmm... What vitamin + water makes?.. I think, vitaminwater, right? So, vitaminwater is "all you need", right?..
  
  We know already this is wrong - see the previous bullet.

• On the Glaceau website we read, in the FAQ section, there is a question: "is there a limit on to the amount of vitaminwater i can consume in a day?"
  And the answer is: "it is virtually impossible to drink too much vitaminwater. vitaminwater carefully formulated to deliver functionality safely. the risk is that drinking vitaminwater can be habit forming and it's a very difficult addiction to break!" This is the whole answer.
  
  First, I hope that they just joked about the addiction.
  Second, it looks like a responsible answer would have something more. What about those 32.5 grams of sugar and 125 calories per bottle? On the Coca Cola website, for example, we can find the following statement: "Remember that some beverages contain calories and count toward your daily caloric intake." This is a responsible approach.
  
  I would suggest Coca Cola (now a parent company of Glaceau) to review vitamin water marketing materials, to make them more trustworthy.

• You probably saw a statement on every dietary supplement product what says that the claims made about this product were not evaluated by FDA (Food and Drug Administration). This is because most of dietary supplements marketing materials talk about health benefits as a result of using these supplements. There might be also statements that a particular supplement is not intended to prevent or cure any decease, or something like this.

  The reason for these warnings is to distinguish dietary supplements from medications, and to let customers know about this.

  Vitamin water is not a medicine.
  It is not a dietary supplement either.
  It is a soft drink, and soft drinks usually do not have any health related claims on labels... But vitamin water does!

  • "this combination of zinc and fortifying vitamins can help ...keep you healthy" (label of "defense" vitamin water)
  • "it's got potassium and b vitamins to help you recover and feel refreshed" (label of "revive" drink)
  • "vitaminwater power-c is specially formulated with nutrients that enable the body to exert physical power by contributing to structural integrity of the musculoskeletal system, and by supporting optimal generation and utilization of energy from food." (Glaceau website)
  • "vitaminwater balance is specially formulated with bioactive components that contribute to an active lifestyle by promoting healthy, pain-free functioning of joints, structural integrity of joints and bones, and optimal generation and utilization of energy from food." (Glaceau website)
  • "vitaminwater rescue is specially formulated to support optimal metabolic function with antioxidants that may reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and vitamins necessary for the generation and utilization of energy from food." (Glaceau website)

  Vitamin water is being camouflaged as a dietary supplement - without any warnings which any dietary supplement must have!
  Great marketing move, no doubts.

  I suppose Glaceau marketers know what they do, but maybe they just have been lucky that no one sued them so far.

Let's summarize:

• Vitamin water is a novel, sophisticated, tasty soft drink, with no artificial colors and preservatives

• It does not replace multivitamin and mineral supplements, as it does not have all necessary vitamins and minerals

• It contains substantial amount of sugars, which you should consider while drinking it

• It is disguised as a dietary supplement with health related claims - but it is not a supplement, it is a soft drink

• I like Glaceau vitamin water! ...but I question some statements made by its producer

P.S. In the beginning, I wrote that there was time when I was taking multivitamin tablets, but not any more. You can see why on this page.