Vitamins. Water. Both are essential for health. So, it follows that Vitaminwater must be amazing for you, right?
Wrong. Read on to learn why you should avoid Vitaminwater at all costs!
In this article:
Can You Count on Vitaminwater?
What Is Vitaminwater?
Why You Should Avoid Consuming Vitaminwater
Most Versions Contain Sugars and Other Fillers
It Doesn’t Aid Your Diet Goals
You’re Not Getting Any Extra Nutrients
It’s Not Good for Your Body
Why Water Is Still the Healthiest Drink Option
Can You Count on Vitaminwater?
You want to be healthier, so you try to avoid consuming unhealthy food and drink. In their place, you turn to ‘healthy’ products. You might start considering well-being-focused alternatives like Vitaminwater. After all, with that name, it’s got to be good for you, right?
If a product is called Vitamin Water, who can blame you for assuming that it’s great for your health?
Here’s the thing. It’s not great for you. It’s not good for you at all. That health-driven product name and slick branding is another brainchild of a bunch of advertising hotshots carving out a lucrative place in the wellness market, at your expense – both financially and healthfully.
Vitaminwater doesn’t deliver health. It doesn’t correspond to any real health benefits when you consume it. In fact, you might even end up setting yourself further back from your health goals when you make it a part of your daily routine.
What’s going on here?
What Is Vitaminwater?
Okay, to be even-handed about this, that health-centric name isn’t entirely off-base. Coca-Cola, the company that owns Vitaminwater, does infuse the drink with certain vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, C, and E. The product also contains various B vitamins.
A glance at the label shows that the minerals zinc, chromium, magnesium, and potassium can also be identified as being in Vitaminwater, along with some others.
The company behind the product knows that many people will be happy enough with that. Quick glance at the label: see that it’s got vitamins and minerals, we’re all good.
It’s therefore not even surprising that some people would want to try Vitaminwater out. After all, at first look, it seems like a good option for you.
So, what’s the problem?
Why You Should Avoid Consuming Vitaminwater
There are four main reasons you shouldn’t start consuming Vitaminwater, or why you should stop drinking it, if you’ve already started.
This advice is even more important if you’re trying to achieve a certain weight or fitness goal – this stuff will actually stop you from achieving it.
Check out the four reasons to avoid consuming Vitaminwater.
1. Most Versions Contain Sugars & Other Fillers
Anything from the Coca-Cola stable is going to arrive packaged to the nines, with more consumer targets and demographically focused advertising and product placement than you can shake a stick at. Unsurprisingly, Vitaminwater is no different. In fact, the hype, budget and intended reach of this beverage is arguably a masterclass in the power of advertising over what the product actually delivers.
To begin with, Vitaminwater ads promote the product’s smorgasbord of vitamins and minerals. We all know that we need these things. What makes the beverage attractive to the average consumer is these are the nutrients that form an essential part of your daily intake.
What a Vitaminwater ad won’t tell you is those vitamins and minerals are suspended in the other key ingredients, better known as *fillers: sugar and food coloring, also known as sucrose and fructose.
The amount of sugar in every bottle of Vitaminwater is equivalent to a similar serving of Coke. Healthy? Really?
Some versions of Vitaminwater even contain caffeine, which makes the product an unsuitable choice of beverage for children. The combination of sugar and caffeine is bad enough for adults, never mind kids.
*Fillers Definition: These are additives that may help enhance the flavor or increase the weight of a product without increasing the production costs. In many cases, they help to lower the spending. They almost always lack any nutritional value.
2. It Doesn’t Aid Your Diet Goals
All the sugar adds a LOT to your daily calorie intake. Drinking sugary substances will not help you achieve your fitness or diet goals.
Consuming Vitaminwater with sugar undercuts any progress you earn after a grueling session at the gym.
Get this – one 20-ounce bottle contains 120 calories. That one serving contains more sugar than the total daily sugar calorie recommendation of the American Heart Association (AHA) for women.
On the other hand, men may have a slightly higher maximum limit for sugar at 150 calories. However, most people also consume sugar throughout the day, eating cereals in the morning or a snack during the afternoon, for example.
It’s baffling that this stuff is advertised as benefiting your health, when in fact, all the evidence points to the opposite being true.
Excessive consumption of sugars or sweeteners can ruin your health momentum or set you back a deal. This is because – as we all know – a high sugar intake leads to a crash, and a craving for even more of the stuff.
Even going with a version sweetened with stevia or erythritols doesn’t help you lose more weight when you make these sugars a part of your diet.
3. You’re Not Getting Any Extra Nutrients
The nutrients on the Vitaminwater label try to make the product even more appealing by suggesting that you will get more benefit from this beverage than from plain water.
One point to bear in mind is that your body is only able to absorb a certain number of vitamins and nutrients each day. Ideally, you’re eating a healthy diet and getting vitamins from nourishing, fresh whole foods.
Therefore, you will likely obtain many of the nutrients in Vitaminwater from other sources – fresh fruits and vegetables are vital components of any diet. The vitamins and minerals in Vitaminwater cannot replace the myriad benefits of eating the right fresh, varied foods.
If your body consumes too many nutrients, it needs to get rid of the excess amount it doesn’t need. In other words, there is nothing to be gained nutritionally by consuming Vitaminwater.
4. It’s Not Good for Your Body
The other side of that fact, is that it’s not always a good idea to take in excess vitamins in the first place – especially some of those in Vitaminwater. An overabundance of certain vitamins can cause some of the following side effects:
- Vitamin A—You can see your skin start to peel or crack. Extreme amounts can also cause you to experience bone pain and even cause damage to your liver.
- B-Complex—Vitamin B-3 can also cause liver damage, while too much B-6 can lead to nerve damage.
- Vitamin C—Too much vitamin C can cause digestive issues and lead to the formation of kidney stones.
- Vitamin D—Excessive vitamin D can increase the levels of calcium in your blood. It may also deposit itself into the tissues throughout your body or remove calcium in your bones, making them more prone to damage.
- Vitamin E—Vitamin E thins out the blood. Consuming too much of it increases your risk of internal bleeding.
Mineral and vitamin intake is something we should all strive to get right, and striking a genuinely healthful balance is key. Sometimes, too much really is too much!
Why Water Is Still the Healthiest Drink Option
Big businesses with profits on their collective minds would love to find an alternative to water. Think tanks, marketing people and nutritionists and researchers in the pay of beverage companies around the world cannot do it: they cannot come up with anything better than what nature produces naturally.
We need water – pure, clean, delicious water. Drinking enough water every day is essential and remains one of the fastest, most effective ways to improve your overall health.
Here are some of the benefits of consuming healthy levels of water each day:
- Improved oxygen delivery throughout your body
- A well-functioning, efficient digestive system
- Better-looking, more radiant skin
- Improved cushioning for vital soft tissues like your brain and spinal cord
- Accessibility to nutrients needed by every cell in your body
- Better exercise endurance, performance and recovery
You can help yourself achieve your health goals by taking a hard pass on Vitaminwater and opting to drink alkaline water instead.
If all of this isn’t enough, then check out some more reasons to avoid Vitaminwater explained in this evidence-based video from Healthline Nutrition.
The drawbacks to drinking a sugary drink like Vitaminwater outweigh any potential benefits by a vast margin. Stick with hydrating with alkaline water and see the health improvements you’re hoping for in both the short and long term.
Over to you! Between Vitaminwater and alkaline water, which one do you like to drink? Share your answers and comments in the section below.
This blog was originally published on January 25, 2019, and has been updated for accuracy in 2023
thanks for letting us know bout vit water. dont wanna drink that now.
Hi, Kim. We’re glad to hear that. We recommend choosing better options, like Tyent hydrogen-rich alkaline water.