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2007-8-30 14:00:26 |
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AICR Ever Green, Ever Healthy August 2007 Topic: Food Supermarkets are stocking their shelves with a new product commonly known as “fitness water.? If that phrase doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps you have seen the bottled water next to still and sparkling water with labels like “Rejuvenate? and “Focus.? Beverage companies claim you will get some of the essential vitamins and minerals you need by drinking these fitness waters (as opposed to drinking plain water). If that’s not incentive enough, marketers tempt us even more by adding fruity sweeteners. Will your body benefit from drinking fitness waters or are they simply a fleeting trend? Today’s news focuses so heavily on the link between high-calorie, sugary beverages and “overweight? or “weight gain? that more people are feeling guilty for drinking sodas. Flavored waters are a compromise between sugary sodas and plain water; in theory, you get a delicious drink and avoid lots of sugar and calories. This concept is so popular that national lawmakers have ensured that, in the coming years, fitness waters (among other low calorie drinks) will be sold in high schools all over the country as part of a movement to curb the obesity epidemic in America. It’s debatable whether fitness water boosts the immune system but they definitely contain added nutrients. The added fruit flavors of fitness water entice people to drink more, thus consuming more of these substances. Karen Collins, MS, RD, AICR’s nutrition advisor, says fitness water is not necessarily bad for you, but the substances it contains do not substitute for the vitamins and minerals that come naturally from vegetables and fruits. Collins says we still need to eat whole foods to get the full supply of these nutrients and beneficial substances. In fact, fitness drinks may actually overload us with vitamins and minerals while adding a small amount of needless calories to our daily intake. To get the vitamins and minerals we need, Collins advises eating five to ten servings of vegetables and fruits per day. Beyond that, a glass of plain water suffices to give our bodies the fluid they need without the added calories. |
