While I may praise Glaceau for providing consumers with distilled electrolyte-enhanced Smart Water, their Vitamin Water is a waste of shelf space. The beverage is just as gimmicky as Function Drinks.
Vitamin Water may be colorful with cute labels that promise benefits from specific vitamins upon drinking, but it is chock-full of processed sugar, “natural” flavor, and food coloring. Most of the drinks contain crystalline fructose, a fancy name for refined sugar containing arsenic, lead, and chloride. I don’t know about you, but I prefer to take my vitamins without harmful contaminants. Furthermore, the best way to absorb vitamins is from original sources. So, drinking Power-C, Defense, Balance, or Essential Vitamin Water isn’t going to do much for your daily vitamin-C quota. Try eating an orange or taking a walk outside instead.
Other Vitamin Water Drinks include Focus with vitamin-A, Endurance with vitamin-E, Energy with vitamin-B, and Multi-V which is like a liquid multi-vitamin. The vitamins in each of the drinks mentioned have natural alternatives. Eggs and spinach are rich in vitamin-A and almonds are a great snack for vitamin-E. Fish, chicken, and beans all carry vitamin-B and as far as a multi-vitamin goes, try to have a well-balanced diet that doesn’t require a supplement if possible.
Glaceau took their creative minds one step further and developed Vitamin Energy: vitamins and caffeine in a can. So maybe they’ve one-up’ed Red Bull with the vitamin supplement, but stick to organic tea or coffee for an energy boost. Once again, the vitamins found in the drink are better-off absorbed from their original sources.
Overall, I commend Glaceau for clever packaging, its website design, and successful marketing. Good for them for making a profit off of compartmentalizing Mother Nature. However, you can’t fool your body. If you want to increase your Vitamin intake take a look at your diet, not the beverage aisle.
