Well, no. Not exactly. For the average joe, Vitamin Water, one of those brightly colored, highly sweetened drinks that most people think is healthy (it's got the word vitamin right in the name!), is just fine to keep drinking. However, if you're an NCAA athlete, you might want to take another look. According to Advertising Age, it has come to light that there are six flavors of Vitamin Water that contain some of the NCAA's impermissible substances. These substances include guarana seed-extract, caffeine, ginseng, taurine, L-theanine, green-tea extract and glucosamine. These additives are banned because they can cause a false positive on the mandatory substances tests that the NCAA requires its players take on a regular basis.
This wouldn't be such a big deal, except for the fact that the NCAA and Coca-Cola (Vitamin Water's parent company) recently inked a multi-year deal, making Vitamin Water Revive (a particular flavor, which does not include any of the banned substances) an NCAA sponsor. Seems like an odd conflict of interest to me!
2-11-2009 @6:32PM Evan said... That's not completely accurate - caffeine, guarana, ginseng, green tea and such aren't banned substances, although you can never have more than a cup of coffee's worth (about 50-100 mg) every two hours or something like that. This is because of the extra stress it puts on a body during exercise, which can lead to heart attacks. That is why they are banned, not due to creating false positives.
Also, unless the rules have changed this year, glucosamine and taurine are only banned in certain amounts as well. Theanine I am unsure about...
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2-12-2009 @9:05PM Adam Brown said... Hey Slashfood readers (and blogger Marisa McCellan,
Adam Brown from Coca-Cola and vitaminwater here. I read your blog post from yesterday. As we are gearing up for march madness, we understand there’s some confusion out there surrounding the NCAA’s policy on banned and impermissible substances as it relates to our vitaminwater varieties.
I wanted to let you know that yesterday, the NCAA put up a statement regarding the inaccurate coverage in the AdAge.com article. You can take a look at NCAA's response here: http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?ContentID=45337
I hope that this answers some of the questions you and your readers have.
Thanks again,
Adam
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3-02-2009 @1:01PM Michelle Hopkins said... I think the another term for vitamin water is antioxidant water. Why because i try vitamin water and it really help to fight aging but not sacrificing my health. We should know to exercise and eat healthy food to become more stronger and healthier
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3-06-2009 @12:58PM jasmine said... we all know that water is really healthy to our body.About the topic in fitness, yes we all know that fitness is really healthy to our body, but the most effective way to have a slim and healthy body is to drink water. Yes water is very important to our body right? because it flushes out the wastes from the body and moisturizes the skin. well now! an effective way to be fit is drinking water, if we are referring to water always remember that because water is no plurality, the Borba water has a supplement water provide antioxidant antiaging effects. Which is other well-known healthy drinks.HAVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE!!
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4-20-2009 @12:35PM andrea said... Have anyone heard about this new water beverage called SoNu? It comes in different flavors and it's very refreshing. It's a cross between vitamin water and gatorade without all the garbage! SoNu Water is so good it has all the vitamins and electrolytes I need and its low on sugar.. It taste So Good with just a hint of fruity flavor!!! If any one wants to see what I'm talking about you can usually pick it up at any "Whole Foods Store" near you!!!
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