BackLounge review: VitaMe nutrient-enriched water
It is better to stick to the plain old-fashioned stuff
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Come summer and that question creeps up on us again, as inevitable as sweat. Are we hydrating ourselves enough? And how much is enough anyway? Water, like exercise, is boring. Cue, nutrition-enhanced drinks such as VitaMe, “the first multi-flavoured, multi-nutrient enriched, low-calorie water" to be launched in India.
The good stuff
The packaging is pretty and there’s something cool about reaching into the fridge, pulling out this handy bottle and pouring the contents down your throat. VitaMe comes in four flavours: apple, watermelon, guava and litchi-mint. I found the litchi sickly sweet, the guava was bearable, while the apple and watermelon could pass off as very watered-down fruit juices.
Each of them is said to be loaded with distinct benefits. Apple Twist claims to have “antioxidants equal to three cups of green tea plus Vitamin C plus Zinc"; its key ingredients are “highly purified green tea extract EGCG, Vitamin C (100% of daily requirement) and Zinc (30% of daily requirement)". It’s supposed to “undamage pollution-induced oxidative stress to internal organs" and “improve immunity". Likewise, Guava contains electrolytes and multi-vitamins for “instant rehydration".
Nutritionist and Mint columnist Madhuri Ruia, after perusing the product literature, was all gung-ho about these drinks as a rehydration aid. “Because of the exciting flavours, people will drink (them) and stay well-hydrated easily," she said.
As a layperson, I found myself looking forward to the next bottle and had no problems downing 300ml over a couple of minutes.
The not-so-good
The screw tops are an absolute challenge. After threatening the web of my right hand with serious injury, I had to heat the bottles over a gentle flame to get them to unscrew.
But perhaps more importantly, after drinking 24 bottles of VitaMe over six days, I wasn’t convinced it delivered on its promises: healthier hair and skin, boosted immunity, reduced stress and anxiety levels, improved sleep, or even a probiotic-friendly gut. All worthy goals, but did they get a fillip from VitaMe? I doubt it, simply because, as Ruia says, the amount of nutrition the products are supposed to contain “is insignificant in the larger scheme of things".
Consider this: Each 300ml of Apple Twist contains 40mg of Vitamin C, 100% of the recommended daily allowance. The water-soluble vitamin cannot be stored in the body, so if you have, say, an orange in addition to a bottle, the excess will be flushed out, and will need to be replenished the next day.
Consider this too: One bottle of Apple Twist contains 57Kcal, or calories, of which 14.13g comes from sugar (10g fruit sugar aka fructose and 4.13g of sucrose). That’s about three teaspoons of sugar in 300g of liquid.
Why go low-cal when you can go zero-cal—especially when the so-called added nutrition is negligible anyway? Stick to water, I say.
Talk plastic
A 300ml bottle of VitaMe costs ₹ 35; a 500ml variant is to be introduced shortly for ₹ 40.
VitaMe Nutrient Enriched Water is currently available in Bengaluru (Spar, Namdhari’s Fresh, Good Food, MK Retail and select stand-alone supermarkets) and Chennai (Brown Tree, Amma Naana, Lifestyle, Spar, Gormei, Nuts ‘n’ Spices); it will be rolled out in other cities soon.
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