Vitaminwater; curing hangovers everywhere?

Pro: Tastes great and makes you feel better

By Alissa Souliere

Let’s be honest, water is dull.
Everyone can attest to ignoring that colourless bottle of water as they walk to the cash during lunch, leaving that fully-stocked refrigerator full of H2O basking in its loneliness as the dust bunnies roll in.
So if most students would rather gulp down a coffee or a sugar-infested soda before buying a plain old bottle of water, why not make it more interesting?
With its witty anecdotes, kaleidoscopic hues, and mouth-watering flavours, vitaminwater is like a small burst of Vegas in a bottle!
It has all the nutrients you need to stay awake during a three-hour class and, unlike a mundane coffee cup or Coke bottle, vitaminwater keeps you smiling with its entertaining parables on the side of every label.
Not only does it keep you amused throughout the day, but it’s actually healthier for you.
Compared to the 200-plus calories in a 20 oz bottle of Coke, the same size vitaminwater contains a mere 50 calories. That’s only 2.5 per cent of your daily intake!
You could chow down on a slice of pizza, a serving of pasta, or a delicious waffle from the cafeteria and not have to worry about asking a friend if your pants look too tight.
We all know that after a night of partying, a glass of water is just what we need to start the day off fresh. So why not add a bit of zing to it?
Vitaminwater works just like a Gatorade or PowerAde would. It replenishes the electrolytes lost from last night’s adventure and gives your body enough energy without the high levels of added sugars. 
Though vitaminwater’s parent company, Glaceau (owned by Coca-Cola), markets the drink by emphasizing its nutritional value, its use of star power adds to the appeal.
With names like Carrie Underwood, 50 Cent, and repeated appearances on the hit TV show Gossip Girl, the non-stop promotion for this drink makes it hard to overlook its universal allure.
Another thing that makes vitaminwater worthwhile is its contribution to making the world a better place.
Now that we’ve all turned a new leaf and have started to live greener lives, why not have a drink to go along with our efforts?
Like the plastic wrap says, “Thirty may be the new 20, but green is definitely the new black. Please recycle.”
With names like ‘b-relaxed’, ‘formula 50’, and ‘XXX’, who wouldn’t give in to the flavour?
Your taste buds will never feel the same again.

Con: Save your money and eat some fruit

By Alicia Visconti

Vitaminwater is a rip-off.

It’s yet another trap for the unconscious consumer, another real big waste of money.

We’ve become so obsessed with our health and body image that we will buy into any product that claims to clean us up. We continue to look for the easy fix that forgives our greasy cravings, a product that we believe adds nutrients to a cheeseburger and fries lunch combo.

The problem is the idea of vitaminwater is good. It makes sense, the concept of taking daily vitamins with a swig, but the drinks are bad. Author and nutritional consultant, Donna Gates, says the drinks are made with low quality vitamins without consistent potency levels; this keeps the cost per bottle relatively low in compression to high quality multi-vitamins in pill form.  The beverages are packed with plenty of corn syrup and fructose and that is bad. There is no real juice and as a result, sugar, flavouring, and aspartame are used. These sugars are all really, really bad.

Drinking a bottle of vitaminwater is almost the same as drinking a can of pop. They both contain more than 30 grams of sugar per bottle. A little counter-productive, don’t you think?

And we’re willingly paying for this stuff, often more so than the regular run-of-the-mill H2O. It’s mind boggling. There is however, something we can do— eat.

A better idea then the vitamin water and an even clearer concept is simply to eat well-balanced diets. If you need vitamin C, drink orange juice. If you feel low in energy, eat an egg.  Do you need more potassium? Just eat a banana. You can buy one of those for about 11 cents versus almost $3.00 you will spend on the megawater. Plus, you won’t have to go to the bathroom 15 minutes later. We can all agree life gets busy but grabbing a drink at the store takes just as much time as grabbing an apple from the fridge.

It’s true the advertising is cute and comical. It’s true the lighthearted sayings on the vitamin water packaging make us giggle. Isn’t it fun to be mocked by a superwater, let it suggest you are unhealthy and have a horrible diet and therefore need this drink?

The company’s website says Glacéau vitaminwater will help people on the go feel better, perform better and live healthy lives through better hydration. It says it has what people need to get through their day “like magic”.

Magic? Are they serious? Is David Copperfield bottling this stuff too?

Let’s get real, the best hydration for the human body is simply regular, clear, non-magic water. The best nutrients come from a well-balanced diet, not sugar-water laced with a little vitamin C and B.