Sobe - Life Water Review

My Grandmother always told us that if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.  That is why, up to this point, I have only written positive reviews.  But I feel that I should let other mothers who are trying to do the heathly thing know this isn't it.

Like some of the other reviewer I saw the dancing lizard commercial and it sparked my interest.  In my College days I use to drink Sobe like they were going out of style (personal favorite - orange creamcicle).  So when we went to Wal-mart last week and they were giving out free 16oz. bottles, I thought what the heck, it's free.  Plus I have been trying to get my kids to drink more water.  We got 6 bottles, one of each flavor (Blackberry Grape, Orange Tangerine, and Cherry something) x2 kids.

My kids have food allergies (eggs/gelatin) so the first thing I do when we get something new is read the label throughly.  Guess what the second ingredient is in Life Water...Sugar...10 grams in 8 oz to be exact.  Second thing I noticed is that the label on the front might say that there is only 40 Calories per serving but what they don't tell you is that there is actually 2 servings in this bottle.  Who do you know that will only drink half a bottle...not my kids.  So, the next thing that pops in my head is, is this really a lot of sugar?

Lets see how it stacks up to the other stuff in my fridge:

• Tropicana Orange Juice (8oz) - 22g Sugar & 110 cal.
• Nesquick No Sugar Added Choc. Powder + Fat Free Milk (8oz) - 16g Sugar (13g from the milk) & 125 cal.
• Gatorade Rain (8oz) - 14g Sugar & 50 cal.
• Kool-aid - recommended 1 cup sugar per 1/2 gal. (I use 2/3c) & 30 cal. per 8oz

Ok, so comparatively it doesn't seem like a lot of sugar, but water is not suppose to have sugar.  I could probably deal with it if the sugar came from real fruit juices in the water, but it's not.  Read the label (front and back).  On the front right under the 40 calorie logo in small print it says, "sweetened with real sugar" and in the ingredients list it has those magic words "artificial flavors." That's right, no natural sweeteners, just sugar water and food coloring.  Truth be told, my kids really don't need the extra vitamins either...they take a multi every morning.

My One Positive Thing (this is for you Grammy):

My kids love this stuff.  Rick's favorite is the Grape.  Dominick's is the Cherry.  The two bottles of grape didn't even last the afternoon and the rest of the bottles only lasted 3-4 days tops.  But my Grandma also always told me to not give my kids what they want but what they need...and they don't need this.

My Suggestion:

Save yourself some money, skip the Sobe water and just reduce (or replace) the sugar in the kids' Kool-aid.  Or better yet, just give them regular water with a slice of lemon or orange, or even a lime in it.