Water used to be in one flavor, which is plain. But it didn’t take long before entrepreneurs saw a business opportunity for water. You may think water enhanced with minerals and vitamins must be healthier, right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case despite the numerous marketing ploys to sell the ‘enhanced water.’
However, that has not stopped people from purchasing it. Taking a case of U.S., there was an increase of 6% in the sales of water enhanced with vitamins in 2015. Currently, water enhanced with vitamins has become increasingly popular. This water enhanced with vitamins is popularly referred to as vitamin water.
What is Vitamin water?
From its name, Vitamin water is water enriched with vitamins and minerals. It is loaded with sugar specifically fructose. Companies that produce this beverage claim to add natural flavors and colors as well.
Reasons why it is bad for you
Highly fattening
When talking about weight loss or gain, what you drink is equally important to what you eat. Drinking liquid sugar calories does not mean that your body will compensate by making you consume less of other foods.
The vitamin water contains calories that get added to everything you eat. In the long-run, this can lead to weight gain as well as an increased risk of obesity and related diseases.
Contains high levels of fructose
A bottle of vitamin water contains about 32 grams of sugar, to be specific cane sugar and crystalline fructose. Don’t be surprised by the word cane sugar as it is only a fancy word for sugar.
The crystalline fructose is the worst part as its about 98% of pure fructose. Additionally, the cane sugar contains 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Well, that’s about the same amount of fructose you get from a can of soda. Excess fructose may cause triglycerides and high blood cholesterol.
Doesn’t supply relevant nutrients
When you take a look at the ingredient label of a vitamin water bottle, you’ll see that it contains high levels of vitamin B and C. These are water-soluble vitamins that rarely lack in the average person’s diet.
Consuming much of these vitamins is not beneficial to your health as they are not stored in your body, but washed out of your body via urine. Since it is a sugary drink, there is no need of taking vitamin water to get a supplement of these nutrients, rather eat whole foods.
Raises the risk of several diseases
We all know that too much sugar in our diet plays a crucial role in the epidemics of obesity and diseases such as diabetes. Experts in the medical world recommend that one should maintain the intake of added sugars below 10% of the total calories.
As mentioned early, vitamin water contains 32 grams of added sugar, which is 50% of the recommended upper limit. This leads to an increase in the risk of major diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
Supply excess macronutrients that may cause harm
When talking about nutrition, the excess is not always the case. Nutrients such as minerals, antioxidants, and vitamins are vital as part of a healthy diet. It’s because they help to prevent several diseases such as cancer and heart disease and generally improve your health. However, taking an excess of vitamins A and E may increase the risk of premature death.
Although vitamin water does not supply a high amount of these vitamins, it does provide considerable amounts that range between 25 to 50% of the RDI. Adding this amount means you are getting to the excessive amounts which are harmful to your health.
Final Takeaway
From the vitamin water advertisements, you may think it to be a great addition to your diet. Vitamin water is no more than a dangerous fad. Many people will still ignore this and fall for the marketing claims which keep on misleading them to take this harmful beverage.
Go through the ingredient labels of all the vitamin water brands, and you’ll see what you’ve been consuming and how some companies can be unethical. Despite the marketing ploys, vitamin water is a bad idea, and you should try and avoid at all costs or if necessary drink on special occasions. You can make your own vitamin water by adding slices of lemon, orange, or cucumber to your water.
