May 8, 2007 12:25 am US/Eastern
Vitamin Water: Lots Of Sugar With Your Vitamins
by Dr. Mallika Marshall
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
As the weather heats up this week, many of us will be reaching for cold drinks. But if your drink of choice is flavored water, you might be getting more than you really want.
Step inside any convenience store, and you'll see a dizzying array of bottled water. One of the hottest new products is Glaceau vitamin water.
With a name like vitamin water, many assume it's a healthy option.
"It says vitamin water, and vitamins are good, and water is good," one woman said.
But if you look closely, vitamin water is full of sugar. One bottle has almost as much sugar as a can of soda.
"Each of these bottles is the equivalent of having 8 teaspoons of sugar," said dietician Linda Antinoro of Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"Oh wow! That does surprise me," one man said.
"No!!" a woman exclaimed. "Shocking! No, I didn't know that."
The flavors also make different health claims. The raspberry-apple "defense" contains Vitamin C and zinc, and claims to boost immunity.
And. the Triple XXX blueberry-pomegranate flavor claims to give you a boost of free-radical-fighting antioxidants.
Although these do have health benefits, vitamin water contains little or no real juice.
"It's basically sugar and water with some vitamins tossed in," Antinoro said. "You can easily get these through a healthy diet.
Antinoro said the vitamins certainly won't hurt, and if you like the taste, go ahead. Just make sure you adjust your diet to accommodate the calories.
"If you didn't make any other alterations and you just added this in addition," she said, "there's a better chance that you are going to get more calories than you need, which leads to weight gain."
Not what you'd expect from a bottle of water.
The sugar content is clearly marked on the bottle. And when you consider the serving size, ounce for ounce, vitamin water has less sugar than soda.
And a Glaceau spokesperson told us many people drink vitamin water to supplement nutritional gaps in their diet.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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