Recently I was invited to review Snapple's new range of Antioxidant Water (thanks Deana). I have to say, it's an interesting idea.
Snapple - currently a part of the gargantuan Cadbury-Schweppes group - announced a new range of flavoured waters late last year (press release); Snapple's Antioxidant Water. These are fruit-flavoured drinks, together with the almost obligatory dose of sugar, which sit comfortably alongside the various iced teas and fruit juices already available.
One of the changes I made in my own diet a number of years ago was to stop consuming carbonated drinks. In fact, aside from the occasional beer or glass of wine, my drinks are generally either water (right now, it's at a few litres per day - here's how to work out the 'optimal' amount), coffee (usually one 1 cup per day) or green tea (hot or iced - depending on the weather). Accordingly, I was intrigued to try out the Antioxidant Water.
First let me point out that there are seven flavours in the range, and - so far - I've only tried four of them (marked with *).
The flavours are :
Having said that, the drinks are a little sweet for my tastes. Similar to many flavoured teas - fine in small doses.
Generally speaking, the drinks I have depend on what I'm doing. A typical day's consumption is something like this :
The Snapple Antioxidant Water would take the place of the iced green tea, occasionally at least.
I must admit, I was initially concerned that a bottle of water equated to around 120-150 calories (the sugar content doesn't help here). However, as this only represents about 4% of my typical daily consumption it isn't exactly a deal-breaker. Just something to be aware of.
How much sugar is there? If the above lines got you thinking about the amount of sugar in each drink, you're not alone. There's something like 30g in each 591ml/20fl oz bottle (it varies from flavour to flavour) of the Antioxidant Water.
Of course, the other key aspect of these drinks is the antioxidant component. Whilst antioxidants (substances which prevent or reduce oxidative damage in the body) are certainly a good thing; I'm not yet convinced that these drinks provide enough benefit to outweigh the sugar component.
For me personally, probably not - at least not on a regular basis. Although the idea of Antioxidant Water isn't bad; many of the iced green teas on the market are much more suited to my own tastes. Not to mention lower in sugar.