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What is Enhanced Water?

Dana Hinders
Dana Hinders
Dana Hinders
Dana Hinders

Although water makes up 60 percent of your total body weight and most nutrition experts recommend drinking six to eight glasses of water per day, many people find staying adequately hydrated to be a challenging task. Fortunately, there are a number of enhanced water products available that provide a convenient way to increase your daily fluid intake.

The term enhanced water is generally used to refer to any type of bottled water that has added ingredients to improve its taste and/or offer additional nutritional benefits. Enhanced waters are sometimes called fortified water or herbal water. In the United States, some of the most common enhanced water products are sold under the brand names Propel Fitness Water, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Base Energy + Water, Ice Botanicals, and VitaZest.

Enhanced water has added ingredients to improve its taste or nutritional value.
Enhanced water has added ingredients to improve its taste or nutritional value.

Contrary to popular belief, all enhanced water products are not created equal. There are products advertised as spring water, sparkling water, oxygenated water, water with fruit-juice concentrate, and flavored non-carbonated water. Some enhanced water products have no calories, while others contain almost as many calories as a sports drink. There are bottled water blends to boost your energy and improve your mental focus, as well as products marketed specifically to meet the needs of women or athletes. When choosing an enhanced beverage, it’s best to read the label carefully to make sure the product fits your needs.

Many water bottles are made of plastic.
Many water bottles are made of plastic.

Drinking enhanced water can be beneficial if it helps you reduce your consumption of sugary sodas. However, it’s important to realize that enhanced water is not intended to be a substitute for a well balanced diet. Even if you’re getting extra vitamins and minerals in your flavored bottled water, you still need to make smart choices during meal time. Choosing enhanced water, then stopping for a fast food burger on the way home from work isn’t an effective way to improve your overall health.

Lemon juice is used to flavor some enhanced water.
Lemon juice is used to flavor some enhanced water.

If you choose an enhanced water product that contains caffeine or guarana, it’s also a good idea to keep track of how much you’re drinking in a particular day. Small amounts of these stimulants can temporarily increase your energy level, but drinking too much can leave you feeling nervous and jittery. In addition, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant limit their daily caffeine intake due to an increased risk of miscarriage or low birth weight.

Dana Hinders
Dana Hinders

Dana holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa. She has loved being part of the WiseGEEK team ever since discovering the joys of freelance writing after her son was born. Dana also hones her writing skills by contributing articles to various blogs, as well as creating sales copy and content for e-courses.

Learn more...
Dana Hinders
Dana Hinders

Dana holds a B.A. in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa. She has loved being part of the WiseGEEK team ever since discovering the joys of freelance writing after her son was born. Dana also hones her writing skills by contributing articles to various blogs, as well as creating sales copy and content for e-courses.

Learn more...

Discussion Comments

lluviaporos

@irontoenail - I agree with you in some ways, but I will still buy enhanced water occasionally. I reuse the bottles with tap water, because I do like to have some water onside in case I get thirsty.

The whole needing six glasses of water a day thing is a little bit of a myth. It includes water you get from eating and there is quite a lot of water in things like fruit for example.

But you should still stay hydrated, if you can and enhanced drinks can make drinking water more palatable to people who usually would only drink soda or coffee.

I think they should recycle the bottles. But aside from that I think it's your money, do what you like with it.

irontoenail

Personally, I don't think most enhanced water products are worth the money you pay for them, or the packaging that goes into to transporting them (and which inevitably ends up in the trash and in the landfill).

Some of them have some vitamins added, but it's cheaper to buy a pack of vitamins at the drug store. It's also cheaper to simply buy a water filter and a proper sports bottle if you want to have filtered water at your side 24 hours a day. They've found some of the time you are just buying tap water in a pretty package anyway.

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    • Enhanced water has added ingredients to improve its taste or nutritional value.
      By: Patryk Kosmider
      Enhanced water has added ingredients to improve its taste or nutritional value.
    • Many water bottles are made of plastic.
      By: monticellllo
      Many water bottles are made of plastic.
    • Lemon juice is used to flavor some enhanced water.
      By: S.HarryPhotography
      Lemon juice is used to flavor some enhanced water.
    • Most people need between six and eight glasses of water per day.
      By: Gina Sanders
      Most people need between six and eight glasses of water per day.
    • Some enhanced waters contain as many calories as a sports drink.
      By: luchshen
      Some enhanced waters contain as many calories as a sports drink.
    • There are bottled water blends to boost your energy and improve mental focus that are marketed specifically to meet the needs of athletes.
      By: Goran Bogicevic
      There are bottled water blends to boost your energy and improve mental focus that are marketed specifically to meet the needs of athletes.