For years now, there have been the standard energy drinks on the market that, from what I’ve understood, are to replenish your electrolytes that can be depleted while working out.
Now there are a whole slew of health and fitness drinks that are marketed as being “healthy”. They probably have a wide appeal to those who want an alternative to soda, however are they truly healthy?
In one of my previous posts I wrote about crystalline fructose after my college professor showed me his health drink and asked me what crystalline fructose was (I had been talking to the class about high fructose corn syrup). I had never heard of crystalline fructose, so I did some research on it.
What I found is that it is made up of a higher percentage of fructose than even high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is. Fructose gets processed completely in the liver, and when your diet contains enough of it, you can end up with a fatty liver, as well as cirrhosis.
Another issue is the fact that we now know that fructose does not shut off the hunger signals in your brain. Your body doesn’t “see” the fructose, so you keep eating since your brain doesn’t get the signal that you’re full. I learned this in the book “You On A Diet“
Don’t you sometimes reach for a beverage when you are actually hungry, because you want to fill yourself up a bit before eating? Well, the fructose isn’t going to help your hunger, it can actually increase it because your brain won’t get the signal that you are full. Imagine if you drink one of these beverages with a meal. So what if the meal doesn’t contain crystalline fructose (or HFCS), you’re getting it in the beverage! It stands to reason that your brain would still think that you are hungry, thus you would likely overeat on the meal that you’re having with that “health” beverage.
After doing the research I learned that crystalline fructose tends to show up in so-called “health” drinks, which makes sense why I hadn’t heard of it before; I drink plain water and only a little soda (I used to be “addicted” to Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, that’s another topic, though). I went to the grocery store yesterday to do some more research on these “health” drinks and to find which ones contain crystalline fructose. Additionally, I’ve also done some research online so that you can easily view their full ingredients if you wish to.
Each of these 23 drinks contains more than 4 ingredients, however I have listed only the first 4 because these are the main ingredients of any product. All of these contain crystalline fructose, and some even have the added benefit of the “natural flavor” ingredient that I recently wrote about. I have indicated specific flavors for numbers 2, 12, and 18 because these brands also have flavors that do not contain crystalline fructose.
You can find the complete list of ingredients for each if you search by their name on BevNET and then click on their respective “nutrition info” tab. I’ve included direct links to the more popular brands (or, at least the ones that I’ve heard of 😉 ):
1. Cytomax Sport Drink – Purified water, maltodextrin, crystalline fructose, dextrose
2. FUZE HEALTHY INFUZIONS [Orange Mango – focus] – filtered water, crystalline fructose, orange juice concentrate, mango puree (6 out of 17 flavors do not contain crystalline fructose)
3. FUZE Slender Energy – Purified/filtered water, crystalline fructose, apple juice concentrate, malic acid
4. FUZE Vitalize – Filtered water, crystalline fructose, orange juice concentrate, mango puree
5. Vitamin Water – Vapor distilled, deionized water and/or reverse osmosis water, crystalline fructose, citric acid (Update 5/15/08 – Vitamin Water was owned by Glaceau and Coca Cola bought Vitamin Water in 2007)
6. HYDRIVE Energy Drink – Spring water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, sodium citrate
7. Inko’s White Tea Energy – Premium brewed white tea using filtered water, crystalline fructose (not from syrup), lemon juice, citric acid
8. IQ H2O – contains 2% juice; filtered water, crystalline fructose, pear juice concentrate
9. Mistic RE – filtered water, high fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, citric acid
10. SoBe Essential Energy – Carbonated water, crystalline fructose, grape juice concentrate, citric acid
11. W2O For Women – Water, crystalline fructose, calcium lactate, vegetable juice for color
The following contain not only crystalline fructose in their top 4 ingredients, but also the ingredient natural flavor that I wrote about earlier this week:
12. airforce NutriSoda mandarin + mint [ENERGIZE] – carbonated water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, natural flavors
13. Aloe’ha Drink Products – Carbonated water, crystalline fructose, malic acid, artificial and natural flavors
14. Function Drinks – Water, crystalline fructose, natural flavor (contains dairy), citric acid
15. Huracan Energy Drink – Carbonated water, crystalline fructose, natural flavor, orange juice concentrate
16. Iron Energy – carbonated water, crystalline fructose, natural flavor, lemon juice
17. Juici Sparkling Beverage – Carbonated water, crystalline fructose, natural flavor, citric acid
18. Multi-Vitamin Enhanced Water [Kiwi-Strawberry] – Triple filtered water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, natural flavors (4 out of 10 flavors do not contain crystalline fructose, but do contain “natural flavors”)
19. Snapple Red Tea – Filtered water, crystalline fructose (sugar from fruit), pear juice concentrate, natural flavors
20. Speedo Sportswater – purified / filtered water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, natural lemon flavor with other natural flavors
21. Trek Hydrator – mountain spring water, crystalline fructose, citric acid, natural flavors (2 out of 6 do not contain crystalline fructose, but do contain “natural flavors”)
22. Wild Waters – Purified water, natural sweeteners (crystalline fructose, erythritol), minerals and vitamins (magnesium lactate, vitamin C, potassium citrate, zinc lactate, vitamin A), natural flavors and colors
Number 23 gets “honorable mention” because crystalline fructose is the 5th ingredient:
23. Cal-C – water, fruit juice from concentrate (pineapple concentrate, orange concentrate, white grape concentrate, majo puree, passionfruit concentrate, applace concentrate with natural color, plum concentrate, lemon concentrate, lime concentrate), skim milk, strawberry juice concentrate, crystalline fructose
If you are one who regularly drinks these types of drinks, is it because you do not like the taste of plain water? If so, what if you saved the money that you spend on them (whose main ingredient is water, except for #8 in the above list), and purchase a reverse osmosis drinking water system for your home? They fit right under your sink and you can take them with you when you move. I have had one for over 10 years, and for the most part, I only drink plain water.
Remember, our bodies consist of approximately 80% water, not 80% crystalline fructose.
If you’re not familiar with the corn sugar crystalline fructose, you can read all about it here.
Really interesting post. I totally understand what you mean about being conscious of what you are eating/drinking/putting into your body. On the other side, though, I really do believe it’s okay to have HFCS in some food & drink, especially if you’re doing it in moderation. I say if there’s a specific type of drink you like and it has HFCS that as long as you overdo it, you don’t have to cut it out entirely. Just my two cents.
Hi Stella,
Thank you for your comment!
You are fortunate that you can stay in moderation. The problem that I run into is that HFCS, crystalline fructose, corn syrup, any of these sweeteners increase my cravings for more sweet foods, and sugar. I do know another person like you though, that doesn’t seem to have a problem with it and can moderate, but for me, it’s never enough once I start.
The other issue that I don’t like is that fructose plays with your brain so that you don’t know that you’re full, so I just stay away from it. It is always best to stay conscious of what you’re putting in your body, though, as you mentioned. 😉
All the best,
JoLynn
Very interesting … I initially read your post “what is crystalline fructose” because my husband brought me home an Iced Peach Green Tea drink made by the Amway Corp (the brand listed on the tea bottle is “ZZENZO” – the second and last Z are backwards on the bottle). The ingredients are water, crystalline fructose, natural flavors (is that the same as “natural flavor” you wrote about in another post??), natural green tea, (is that different from regular green tea? LOL), green tea solids, and citric acid. The tea doesn’t taste anything like tea nor does it even have peach in it. It has a very strong sweet peach flavor and while very tasty it made my stomach hurt (I drank about 4 oz on an empty stomach). I decided to google “crystalline fructose” and your post was the first thing that came up. Anyway, thank you for this info, I’m dumping the rest down the sink. I must say, I am addicted to sugar, but this stuff is even too much for me. The more I read about “CF” it seems to be worse than HFCS. : Thanks again! 🙂 Have a terrific weekend.
Jen
Hi Jen,
That’s interesting, you mentioning your stomach hurting…this would make a great post because I’ve had that experience too, so I’ll do that instead of writing a long comment here; thanks for the inspiration Jen! 🙂
You also asked if natural flavor and natural flavors are the same…from what I understand, they are. There is a distinction made between natural and artificial flavors which is another topic I have on my list but haven’t written on yet. When I do, I’ll put that in the additives category. 😉
All the best,
JoLynn
I agree with your article and the dangers of Fructose in any form other than direct fruits and vegetables. But in your next article….let us know….what then are the vitamin waters or fruit drinks or sodas that could be considered alternatives to the commercial brands!
Hi Dina,
I can put that idea on my list, I can’t say that it will be the very next article that I post, though. 😉
I can tell you right now, that it won’t be a long list, and my #1 recommendation is water. Now I don’t drink plain tap water, I did invest in a reverse osmosis drinking water treatment system. It has more than paid for itself already, and I only buy bottled water when I take weekend (or longer) out of town trips.
I will put together that list for you, though. Thanks for the suggestion, it’s a good one. 🙂
I am a 3O something year old male that has was diagnosed with high blood pressure about two months ago.I spent 4 days in the Cardiac Critical Care Unit and a total of 8 days as a result of my diagnosis. I went from 250 lbs to 219 lbs in 36 hours(!)as a result of diuretics administered as an in patient.
Needless to say, I’m now on a low sodium diet and have to be extremely careful as to what I eat. Basically, alcoholic beverages,fried and processed foods and of course soft drinks are off limits.i have since turned to fruits, salads,baked,steamed and broiled foods and 100 % fruit juices. My guilty pleasure (and sometime substitute for H2O) has become Glaceau’s Vitamin Water (“Formula 50” and “XXX” flavors).My dietician suggested that I stay away from HFCS but I failed to ask about CF
I think that it is so unfair that these companies be allowed to market such drinks as healthy without consequence.Unsuspecting patrons are actually doing more detriment to their bodies drinking this ‘liquid farce” than if they were to drink a snapple or some other 10% fruit drink.
Id there anyway to hold these companies accountable for the ingredients that they choose to place in their products, especially when it’s more detrimental than stuff we ALREDY know is bad for us. Arsenic? No one needs that in their system.
Thank God for google and your aresenic. I bought a case of this vitamin water garbage from a wholesaler…Im pouring the balance of it down the toilet. Thanks for the info!
Hi Reg,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, you’ve been through a lot!
I’m glad that I could help with the info. on crystalline fructose. I know what you mean about the marketing of these products…there are so many of these additives out there, and it seems like there are new ones cropping up every day. I think that the best thing that we can do for ourselves is read every label and if we aren’t familiar with an ingredient, research it like you did. 😉
I hope that you are doing well with your health now, and that your blood pressure is in check. All the best to you Reg! 🙂
fructose.org/facts.asp
This site is pretty interesting.
Seems CF is not so bad. 😆
Summary
Fructose and HFS are not the same. Fructose is sweeter than sucrose so less is needed to achieve the same sweetness, offering calorie savings. Fructose has a low glycemic index and does not cause surges and dips in blood glucose levels. Pure crystalline fructose offers many functional benefits when added to a wide range of foods and beverages, improving product palatability and stability.
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for both of your comments! 🙂
Yes, fructose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are not the same. Naturally occurring fructose is a sugar derived from fruit, however HFCS is not made from fruit, but from corn. Fructose from corn is ten times sweeter than regular sugar (sucrose), and is much cheaper to produce. Both crystalline fructose and HFCS do give food more “stability”, meaning that the food has a longer shelf life, meaning that it’s processed, packaged, food. It’s not whole, healthy food. Additionally, crystalline fructose contains a higher “amount” or concentration of fructose than does HFCS (in my article above).
I don’t know about the calories because I don’t focus on them. Counting calories signifies “dieting” to me, and in my experience diets don’t work. What I know based on my research is that the man-made corn sugars are not healthy for me, and I do trust what I’ve learned from Dr. Oz in “You On A Diet”. When I eat foods that contain these ingredients, I keep eating past the point of fullness, as he described the fact that they don’t give your brain the message that your stomach is full. I also have the experience of stomach and intestinal upset when I eat foods that contain these ingredients.
Even beyond what I’ve learned, bottom-line is that they are sugar, and sugar, whether made from corn, beets, cane, or potatoes, is addictive and gives me cravings for more. Not everyone may have the same experience as me though, and the foods sweetened with crystalline fructose or HFCS do taste good, which is why they are popular.
The site that you mentioned gives a lot of the same information as does the PDF in my article. They are both on the pro side of the man-made sweeteners, which you will find more of online. It is good that you make your own choices on what you eat and even compare how your body reacts based on if you eat only whole, healthy foods for a week or two, compared to how you feel when you then return to eating processed foods. Your body will tell you what is best for you and in the end, you must make your own decision. 🙂
Guess what else has crystalline fructose – another “healthy” choice – Weight Watchers Yogurt and Breyers Low fat Yogurt. Yoplait just has good ole fashioned HFCS 👿
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for the heads up on that. 🙂 I’ve only had the Yoplait brand and that was quite awhile ago.
Someone else posted a comment on my What is Crystalline Fructose post that Mountain High Classic Lowfat All Natural Yoghurt also contains crystalline fructose. Sounds like it’s popular in yogurt!
Here’s another drink addition. I just bought a new “24C Multi Vitamin System” vitamin enhanced water beverage from Jones brand and found that Crystalline Fructose is listed second behind water under the ingredients.
Thanks for the post, I never would have known that Crystalline Fructose was worse than HFCS.
Hi Jacqueline,
Thank you very much for letting us know about the Jones brand vitamin water. These vitamin waters seem to be all the rage currently, but with the crystalline fructose, I sure wouldn’t call them healthy!!
F.Y.I. I was just looking at the ingredients on my so called healthy kashi golean crunchy bar and yes it does contain crystalline fructose, they advertise how healthy their products are. i guess i won’t be eating these bars anymore. I am disappointed. What is a good health bar to eat for snack?
Thanks for the info in your article about HFCS and Crystalline Fructose.
Hi Kim,
Wow, I didn’t know that the Kashi bars contained crystalline fructose, one of my friends used to eat them often until she got bored with them. Thanks for spreading the word on that!
I liked the Cliff Builders chocolate mint protein bars or Pure Protein blueberry crumb cake bars…neither one contains the hfcs or crystalline fructose, but the Pure Protein contains sucralose and sorbitol.
I stopped eating the protein bars because of the sugar alcohols in them….they gave me cravings for more sugar, but if you don’t have a problem with that or the artificial sweeteners in general, you might like the one’s I suggested. 🙂
I was just researching about this CF stuff because my neighbor was telling me about it and how wonderful it is. I bought some of Glaceau’s FruitWater, and while I wasn’t impressed, I thought it was ok.
I guess my question would be about alternatives. I’m have severe allergies to all of the sugar substitutes (splenda, apartamine etc…) so I don’t drink diet drinks. I’m not a big soda drinker, and I do drink a lot of water. I have a filter on my tap at home because our city water is just so bad (I live in Allentown, PA), and even our water heaters don’t last long because of the lime and all that other stuff building up.
What other option, besides plain water, would be recommended if someone was allergic to the sugar substitutes and also wanted to watch their caloric intake? I have low blood sugar, but am over weight, but have many food allergies. Gotta love it.
Hi Jennie,
I wrote a couple of posts about alternatives but the only drinks that sound like they would work for you would be tea…either regular or herbal teas that you brew yourself, or Trader Joe’s Tejava Premium Iced Tea. You could also try Stevia, which is an herbal sweetener and not known to cause any side effects. However I don’t know if this is also something that you are allergic to.
You can always toss some fresh lemon or lime wedges in your water and if the Stevia works for you that would make a good drink over ice.
Something else you could do is use a blender to crush some ice and throw some fresh berries in there, making a kind of slushy.
I hope this helps Jennie! 🙂
I am SO glad you did some research on this and shared it online! I started drinking FUZE recently and noticed that I started having bronchial problems. I felt as if I was coming down with bronchitis, but had no other symptoms. Realizing that Spenda affects me that way, I stopped drinking FUZE for a couple of days just to see if that was causing the problem. Then, I found your article and that confirmed what I thought. No more crystalline fructose for me!!! 😡
Hi Veronica,
Sure, no problem!
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I also cough almost constantly if I eat foods containing sugar (any kind of refined sugar whether it’s white or corn sugar), dairy, and I think the flour does it to me, too. Basically, it just takes me 2 days to start feeling great again once I get off of the processed food, which then means I’m not ingesting all of those additives, excess sodium (gives me body aches), or the corn sugars, either.
WTG on listening to your body and using your own guidance to know what is good for you, what works best (or in this case doesn’t work!) in your body. 🙂
Thank you for your article. I have stayed away from any HFCS products (you would not believe how many products contain this…including bread)by buying products that are organic. Europe does not have HCFS and HCFS cannot be in organic foods. But, like others who have posted, as former soda addicts (Diet Dr. Pepper was my favorite)we often have both Vitamin Water and Life Water of which both contain crystalline fructose. I never thought to check into it until my husband brought it up and advised me to look into it. I too have had stomach pains after drinking some of the vitamin waters. Fiji water is my all time favorite and after reading it’s natural occuring contents, has some important minerals our body may need. My 4 sons have some special issues I have linked to diet (seizures, bronchitis & allergies). Go to the doctor and you get a band-aid of medicine which does not solve the cause and may cause side effects giving the need for MORE medication and so the domino effect starts and your health declines. Eat healthy, exercise and be healthy is the best medicine.
Hello, just wondering if anybody has a definition for “fructose syrup”. Not HFCS or crystalline fructose just fructose sryrup. Sure it is another scam. This is on Dannon’s Activia brand yogurt that is getting a lot critiscism because they said it can help your stomach. Anyways, probably just another way of saying HFCS. What has this world come to everything is processed!
Hi Joyce! I apologize because somehow I missed your comment from Nov. and didn’t respond to you, ack!
You are so very right that usually the medication you get for a problem is only a band aid – it doesn’t solve the cause of the problem. Unfortunately this is the “solution” all too often, and it never gets to the bottom line cause of the issue.
You are also spot on that sticking to a diet of whole foods and getting regular exercise is the best “medicine”, thanks Joyce! 🙂
Hi Justin,
That’s a good question, “fructose syrup” is a new term to me, too. However after reading this article, I learned that it’s just another corn syrup. In fact I would have said that even before researching it, but I wanted to check to be sure.
Almost all refined sugars today come from corn – they just have different names and it can be very confusing for the consumer because when you hear “fructose” you think fruit, but instead it’s sugar from corn.
The best way that I’ve found to combat the processed food gunk is to eat a diet filled with whole foods – basic foods that don’t contain sugar, salt, dairy, unhealthy fats, foods that I cook myself with healthy recipes. The sugar in my diet comes from fresh fruit – I love apples, grapefruit, strawberries, they’re all awesome. 🙂
You mention using a reverse osmosis filtration system. I read somewhere that an undersink system can create 1000s of gallons of wastewater every year. Pure water is cool, but I don”t want to kill the environment. Have you heard about this?
Hi Sean,
I’m with ya on the concern for the environment, and I love my R.O. system – I even got one of my friends hooked on my water (without trying to!).
Here’s an RO system that Costco sells that states it doesn’t waste any water. This isn’t the system that I own but personally I love Costco.
This way you’d be getting clean water while not wasting water and also saving money since you wouldn’t buy bottled water that likely has only been filtered to remove the taste of chlorine. 😉
Thanks for your research and information. I try to tell everyone how bad aspartame and HFCS are. I think everyone should start writing to these companies suggesting they sell some alternative products that aren’t so sweet (don’t have added sweetners). I would love something like Vitamin Water that was not soooo sweet, but had all the great benefits of acia, pommagranite, blueberry, etc. I look for something to quench my thirst and overly sweet drinks just make me thirsty.
Hi Kelly,
Sure, np!
Several readers of Fearless Fat Loss have written to companies to ask why they include the ingredients they do in their so-called health drinks. Of course the companies come back with a pat answer (they just want to sell their product), but I bet that if more and more consumers do this, changes will be affected….because they want to sell their product. 😉
One of my friends buys V8 Fusion at Costco that contains the fruit juices you listed, but I don’t know if it contains added sugar – I’d have to check it out. I see that on their website they don’t list their ingredients, which always makes me suspicious. 😉
Here’s my two cents. I think the only place you can find healthy drinks are the health food stores! Having said that, there is a drink at Target that is wonderful called IZZE. It has 70% juice and 30% carbonated water. NO sugar added! No fake sugars either! I found it at Starbucks and I drink it when I need a water alternative with flavor.
V
Hi Veronica,
I’d never heard of IZZE, thanks for the tip! I checked out their ingred and the only thing that isn’t the very best is natural flavor, but that’s it.
I wouldn’t be able to have this since it’s so high in natural sugar (it would give me sugar cravings), but if you don’t have a problem with sugar, this is absolutely a much better choice.
Thanks again! 🙂
Thank you for the information on crystalline fructose. I searched the web on it after I almost purchased a “health” drink with crystalline fructose listed as the second ingredient. I knew crystalline fructose was similar to HFCS, but did not realize it was even worse. I think it is terrible that so many so called “health” drinks have CF in it….what a waste. I didn’t notice the drink listed above, it is called Nutrient Water. The web site is nutrientwater.com.au. I have noticed it everywhere since arriving in Australia.
Hi Sheena,
I agree, and I personally am not at all interested in spending $$ on a load of sugar water – if you really want that, why not put some table sugar and lemon in a glass of water at home (hey, I’m not recommending this!!… just being funny about it).
Thanks for the tip on the new sugar water on the market, I’ll check that out. 😉
Thanks for posting this and for doing the research. More people definitely need to start thinking about what they’re consuming and how it will affect their health. However the reason I found your site was because I was looking into crystalline fructose. I am trying to improve my diet by keeping it free of these harmful sugars and chemicals. I stopped drinking soda and switched to Vitamin Water as my drink of choice. I noticed it had crystalline fructose in it and erroneously assumed that it was better than HFCS because this is a so called healthy beverage that is suppose to be good for you. Now that I’ve read all about it on your site I know its just as harmful as HFCS. I didn’t notice it on this list and I think it should be added. It’s distributed my Coca-Cola and therefore consumed by millions, especially here in NYC.
Keep up the great work!
Javier Diaz
Hi Javier,
Thanks for letting me know about Coca Cola buying Vitamin Water. I’ve always had Vitamin Water listed as #4 in my post but it read “Glaceau Vitamin Water”. I did some research and found that it’s the same product, it’s just that Coke bought Vitamin Water from Glaceau. I updated my post to note this. 😉
Hey man just wanted to say excellent blogs about HFCS and crystalline fructose. My friend works for vitamin water and he told me that crystalline fructose was way better and that its made from the juices of fruits. I got to thinking about that and looked it up and i found your blog and it opened my eyes and i told him about it and who i heard it from and he wasn’t the happiest camper if ya know what i mean. So thanks a lot for the Info.
Hi Josh,
Sure, no problem, I’m glad I could pass this info along to you and your friend.
Hey, not sure if this thread is still active but I figured I’d give you all my two cents as a student working on his PhD:
1)CF in and of itself is not directly harmful to the body, unless you live a sedentary lifestyle.
2) Arsenic, consumed in small amounts promotes gene expression for the production of essential amino acids. It also may have health benefits in regards to certain types of cancer.
3) Vitamin Water, as a health drink and in moderation can help people–especially of lower economic standing–reach adequate daily nutrition in the vitamins of the drink. Also helpful for Vegans/Vegetarians who might develop deficiencies in the B-Vitamins.
Just thought I’d share some of my own research.
Anyway great topic, I enjoyed reading and I do agree with you for the most part. Remember, though, things are not all that bad in moderation.
Hello,
Thanks for your feedback. I think you may have read a different post of mine, I didn’t write about the ingredients of crystalline fructose in this one.
Either way I don’t recommend crystalline fructose to anyone in any amount – it’s easy to get hooked on it since it is sugar and it can lead to a fatty liver and overweight, both topics covered in my post above.
For sugar addicts, no amount of refined sugar is recommended since it brings those sugar cravings back. 😉
It’s pretty clear that these sorts of drinks just aren’t worth it. According to this doctor site, Vitamin Water isn’t really worth it.