Vitamin Water: How much are you willing to shell out for sugary H20?

Vitamin Water, an ‘enhanced’ sports drink now marketed by Coca-Cola is in the news once again. This time the lawsuits are in Canada, where the brand is the target of scrutiny by the Canadian government over claims that the drink makes false claims about being healthy.

Duh. Vitamin Water, originally created by Energy Brands and marketed under the Glaceau brand, has been the object of concerned consumer advocates since 2009, when the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) initiated legal proceedings against the brand, claiming that it made false health claims. The company had been purchased by Coca-Cola in 2007. The CSPI lawsuit is proceeding, with a federal judge having tossed out a motion by Coca-Cola to dismiss the suit.

Promoted as a healthier alternative to sugary sodas, VitaminWater is essentially water … with 33 grams of sugar and a smattering of synthetic vitamins. But as Americans stuggle with weight, in a stressed out and time crunched life, they seem willing to grab for anything that - at least on the surface - promises a fast, effortless health benefit. When you consider that nearly 35% of Americans are considered obese, that’s a huge market - in more ways than one.

That’s what Coca-Cola is banking on. I say ‘banking’ because they paid in excess of $4.1 billion to acquire the brand. That’s just how much profit potential there is in flavored, sugary water.

VitaminWater Defense Raspberry Apple nutrition label. The label understates the reality, the values are for one serving, but the bottle contains 2.5 servings.

I browsed through the nutrition labels of many of the different VitaminWater offerings, and could find little to differentiate one from another - beyond the color and the creative name on the labels. For the most part - in addition to the sugar and water - they contain synthetic versions of Vitamin C, B6 and B12 in amounts that border on the insignificant.

Vitamin C is easily available in our diet, and the body sloughs off excess amounts. Yet the Vitamin C in VitaminWater is essentially negligible. You’d get more from a small green salad. The vitamin B12 surprised me. VitaminWater has just a little, but according to the Mayo Clinic, the body stores ‘several years worth’ of the essential nutrient, and any B12 deficiency in our modern society is very rare, and due to serious illness’ like pernicious anemia - which causes the body to not be able to absorb the vitamin. Drinking VitaminWater wouldn’t help.

Ingredients in VitaminWater Energy Citrus

Vapor distilled water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, caffeine, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), gum Arabic, natural flavor, electrolytes (calcium, magnesium, and potassium), gum ester, zinc picolinate, vitamin E acetate, vitamin A palmitate, niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), beta carotene, Panax ginseng (50mg) and guarana extracts, cyanocobalamin (B12), caramel color, pyridoxine hydrochloride (B6).

VitaminWater, depending on the flavor, has nearly as much sugar - in the form of possibly addicting High Fructose Corn Sugar - as a regular Coke. If the sugar isn’t enough to get you on a buzz, then certainly the caffeine in VitaminWater could.

There are those who would claim ‘buyer beware’. And certainly, consumers should start reading labels. But again, when harried consumers are bombarded with billions of dollars in advertising messages telling them - with the help of famous sports stars like basketball player Kobe Bryant - that something is good for them … what should anybody expect? VitaminWater’s advertising isn’t subtle. It tells consumers that VitaminWater is a ‘healthier way to hydrate’.

Healthier than plain water? Which is free? VitaminWater isn’t healthy for you or your wallet at $1.79 a 20-ounce bottle.

So far, Coca-Cola’s defense strategy has been to freely acknowlege that VitaminWater isn’t healthy, and gee, they just can’t understand why consumers are assuming it is ….  WTF? That’s right. It’s a bizarre defense - just say it’s the fault of those consumers for not having the read the nutrition label. Coke’s attorneys replied in court briefings that, “…no consumer could reasonably be misled into thinking VitaminWater was a healthy beverage…”

The sad news is that there are billions of dollars to be made by never under-estimating the gullibility of the American consumer looking for an easy way out. It never ceases to surprise me how far people will go out of their way, and waste money, to avoid simply eating a varied and healthful diet of actual real food.

One apple a day would give a person all the nutrition that a VitaminWater would - and more in micronutrients - without the huge sugar buzz. And an apple is way cheaper!

As more folks succumb to the recession - with lost jobs, the end of unemployment benefits and more grief - isn’t it time to get off our expensive addiction to sugar …. and marketing hype?

-maven

Comments

[bluelyon]

50 calories per 8 ounce serving, but the bottle is 20 ounces? That's nearly 150 calories of sugar water! Thanks for posting this. I'm about to do a post on the water softener/decalcifier scams out there. I hear the commercial on the radio every morning and it's driving me crazy.