Are you drinking flavored water or pop?
Have you noticed the choices of beverages seems to grow in the grocery store?
One category that has expanded rather quickly over the past few years is flavored water. Initially, flavored waters were just that — water with flavor added. When many people tasted these products, they were normally disappointed.
That is because water has no natural basic tastes — no sweetness, no sour. Typically, flavored waters are flavored with fruity flavors. If you think about fruit, it is naturally sweet and often balanced with some sour. We detect these basic tastes with the taste buds on our tongue.
The flavors in the beverages, on the other hand, are detected with the receptors in our nasal cavity. And so, for our brains, there is a slight disconnect in drinking a beverage that smells like a berry but is not sweet or sour in any way.
That is most likely the reason so many flavored water beverages now contain not only flavoring, but also a hint of sweetness (usually in non-nutritive form as a sweetener that does not impart calories) or a bit of sour from citric acid. But once a flavored water contains water (and usually carbonated water), flavors, sweetener and maybe even acid and colors. Well, that is the exact same definition as a soft drink.
Flavored waters fall under the category of soft drinks. We do not use that term much these days, but it is still an official category of beverages. Hard drinks contain alcohol and soft drinks do not. Milk and 100 percent fruit juice and bottled water (just plain old water) are separate from soft drinks. But a beverage that begins with water and has ingredients added to it is a soft drink.
I think it begs the question: When I drink flavored water, is this more like drinking water or drinking soda pop? Ignore the marketing language and look at the ingredient statement. Chances are, your favorite flavored water beverage is pop disguised as water.
According to the Institute of Food Technologists, the flavored water category reached $10.3 billion in 2018, up from $6.5 billion in 2013 globally. In the United States alone, sales nearly doubled, jumping from $1.3 billion to $2.5 billion during the same time.
Does this mean you should stop drinking flavored water beverages? No. It is simply a reminder that we should pay attention to what we are consuming. It is easy to get caught up in marketing language that makes many of these popular products sound like they are just water.
During these hot summer months, it is important to stay hydrated. Ideally, this should be with water. The University of Missouri suggests an easy way to calculate how much water a person needs is to take your weight, divide it in half, and then drink that number of ounces of water per day. If a person weighs 150 pounds, they should aim to drink 75 ounces of water. The American College of Sports Medicine also recommends adding 12 ounces of water for every 30 minutes you work out.
If the taste of plain water is too boring to handle, squeeze in a bit of lemon or lime juice. Or put a pitcher of water in the refrigerator and add in slices of cucumber or mint with a handful of berries. It is the simple way to make your own flavored water.
Today I’ll leave you with this quote from Mark Twain: “The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.”
Emily Marrison is an OSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Educator and may be reached at 740-622-2265.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Are you drinking flavored water or pop?
