Sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar because they are not fully absorbed into the body. Because of this, consuming large amounts of foods containing sugar alcohol can lead to abdominal gas and diarrhea.

The warning labels on foods containing the sugar alcohols sorbitol and mannitol stating “excess consumption may have a laxative effect” is proof of this.

But unlike most sugar alcohols, around 60 to 90 percent of erythritol is absorbed into the bloodstream and is then excreted in the urine. This means that erythritol tends to cause lesser intestinal distress than other sugar alcohols.

Sugar alcohols are useful in baking and are frequently used in combination with other low-calorie or artificial sweeteners like aspartame, acesulfame-K, neotame and saccharin. In erythritol’s case, it is used with crystalline fructose, Coca-Cola’s sweetener of choice for its controversial beverage – Vitaminwater.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and other concerned parties have filed a class-action suit against Coca-Cola for “illegally marketing” Vitaminwater as a healthy product.

CSPI nutritionists claim that the 33 grams of sugar – including crystalline fructose – contained in each bottle of Vitaminwater “do more to promote obesity, diabetes and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles.”

Since crystalline fructose is 99 percent fructose, it may be potentially more harmful to your health than high fructose corn syrup, natural health expert Dr. Joseph Mercola warns. High fructose corn syrup is a major, if not the main, contributor to the obesity epidemic in the U.S., and has also been associated with increasing the risk of tissue damage, diabetes, heart disease and other serious conditions.

On the other hand, the erythritol is likely to blame for the reported side effects of drinking Vitaminwater, such as diarrhea, headache and stomachache. Also, while erythritol contains lower calories than sugar, it’s still not calorie-free, and if you regularly drink Vitaminwater, the calories you consume can be close to what you’re consuming if you drink a beverage sweetened by sugar.

But for all its faults, erythritol does offer some health benefits. Eythritol does not contribute to tooth decay and has limited antimicrobial properties.

The only safe sweetener in Vitaminwater is stevia, an all-natural sweetener that’s 100 percent safe, contains NO calories, does not increase blood sugar levels and is almost 300 times sweeter than sugar.

But what’s the use of putting stevia when Vitaminwater’s main sweetener is potentially worse than high fructose corn syrup?

Drinking a bottle of Vitaminwater is equivalent to consuming 125 calories and 33 grams of sugar – that’s 15 more calories and 3 more grams of sugar than a 12 ounce Coke!

Vitaminwater does contain some vitamins (which, by the way, are chemically synthesized) but it might be more appropriate to call it “Sugarwater” instead.

CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner summed it up in a previous statement:

“Coke fears, probably correctly, that they’ll sell less soda as Americans become increasingly concerned with obesity, diabetes, and other conditions linked to diets too high in sugar. Vitaminwater is Coke’s attempt to dress up soda in a physician’s white coat. Underneath, it’s still sugar water, albeit sugar water that costs about ten bucks a gallon.”

The bottom line: stick to real, pure water and get your vitamins from a healthy diet.

At first glance, Vitaminwater looks like a “healthy” product, as it comes in beautiful and colorful bottles with catchy flavor names like “endurance,” “energy,” and “essential.” Glacéau, the maker of Smartwater, Fruitwater and Vitaminwater, acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2007, claims that Vitaminwater can reduce your risk of chronic disease and eye disease, promote healthy joints and support immune function.

Really now? Don’t be fooled because the truth is… Vitaminwater is nothing more than water laced with sugar!

What’s In Vitamin Water?

If you go to the Glacéau website, you won’t find the nutritional information on Vitaminwater, which isn’t surprising.

One bottle of Vitaminwater contains 125 calories and 33 grams of sugar. And they still call it “water,” though I’m not sure why. That means that Vitaminwater contains more calories and sugar than a 12 ounce serving of Coke (110 calories and 30 grams of sugar). So if you’re thinking you’re taking in less sugar if you drink Vitaminwater instead of Coke, think again. Thirty-three grams of sugar is over SIX teaspoons of sugar!

Vitaminwater’s sweetener of choice is crystalline fructose, which is produced when fructose is crystallized from a fructose-enriched corn syrup.

Fructose is a man-made sweetener and metabolizes to triglycerides and adipose tissue, not blood glucose. It does not stimulate insulin secretion, nor enhance the production of leptin, the hormone involved in regulating your appetite. Insulin and leptin are key indicators in regulating how much you eat as well as your body weight, suggesting that dietary fructose may contribute to increased food intake and weight gain.

A study on fructose showed that fructose is very quickly made into fat in your body and once your body starts the process of fat synthesis from fructose, it’s hard to slow it down. Fructose is also known to increase your triglyceride levels, putting you at an increased risk of heart disease.

Forget about Vitaminwater and Go Back to Basics

Sure, Vitaminwater does contain vitamin C, vitamin B3, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin B5 and zinc but these nutrients are chemically synthesized. The vitamin content of Vitaminwater is just neutralized by the amount of sugar and other additives it contains.

In fact, a class-action suit has been filed by concerned parties including the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) against Coca-Cola for “illegally marketing” Vitaminwater as a healthy product. According to CSPI nutritionists, the 33 grams of sugar contained in each bottle of Vitaminwater “do more to promote obesity, diabetes and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles.”

There is no harm in adding vitamins to a drink but it confuses consumers into thinking that the beverage is healthy when it actually isn’t. Diet Coke fortified with vitamins and minerals is now known as Diet Coke Plus but can it call itself healthy?

Beverage companies like Coca-Cola aren’t really concerned about your health; they just want to make more money. Coca-Cola bought Glacéau for $4.1 billion to get the rights to market products like Vitaminwater and capitalize on the increasing number of people drinking lesser soda and switching to other beverages.

You can’t judge a food by its cover so make sure to read labels carefully to avoid being fooled by deceptive marketing from products like Vitaminwater.

Pure water is still the best beverage and is one of the most important elements of your diet.

If you really want to get vitamins into your system, the best way to do so is still by eating food – nutritious food, that is. Proper nutrition is the key because no miracle water or food supplement can provide you with all the nutrients that you need in order to stay healthy.

For Dr. Mercola, a multivitamin can be beneficial for your health but only those that come in a non-synthetic natural whole food form and not the synthetic types found in most energy drinks, flavored beverages and vitamin pills on the market.