KidStyleFile

Post written by Miki
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Vitamin waters have been around for a while, but there’s a new one making a buzz in the US at the moment.

It’s called Y water - www.ywater.us - a USDA organic certified, vitamin-infused, low calorie, flavoured drink which comes packaged in a cool Y shaped bottle.

It’s been designed especially for kids as an alternative for parents who are worried about sugary, high calorie drinks, and on face value it does look pretty fantastic.

Instead of the usual flavours for children’s drinks, Y water comes in four rather different ones: Brain water, bone water, muscle water and immune water. Each of these contain ingredients linked to improved performance and development in the targeted body part; for example, the brain water contains zinc, vitamins B6, B12, C and Molybdenum.

The tastes themselves are sophisticated for a children’s beverage: Bone water, for instance, “combines a shot of calcium with organic white grape juice, organic hibiscus, organic banana and strawberry flavors, and a touch of organic spearmint oil”.

Crikey!

Besides the beverage itself, the bottle is perhaps the most innovative part of the whole package. Rather than just scaling down an adult-sized water bottle, the Y bottles were designed to be a 9oz (260ml) bottle which is both easy for kids to drink from and then becomes a toy once it’s empty. The bottles can be linked together with biodegradable rubber ‘Y Knots’, and from there the forms that can be built really are only limited by the child’s imagination.

At the end of the day when the kids have finished playing with the Y bottles then customers can register on the Y water website for a free mailer in which the bottles can be posted back for recycling.

All of that sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it! A healthy, fun drink which is good for the kids, environmentally sustainable and becomes an awesome toy - what’s not to love?

As a mum myself, I do have to take a step back from the hype and wonder what the downsides could be. I did some research, and here is some food for thought.

If a child has a balanced diet then they shouldn’t need extra vitamins. Having too many can actually place a strain on their kidneys.

Some vitamins can affect medications, rendering them either less effective or increasing their efficiency. Apparently doctors already have problems with patients not telling them about natural supplements they take, and something as seemingly innocuous as a bottle of water could make this problem worse.

Also vitamin waters could actually counteract what they aim to improve: consuming vitamins through water could potentially create complacency along the lines of “My kids are getting vitamins through their water, so it doesn’t really matter if they don’t have a balanced, healthy diet and an active lifestyle.”

I don’t know - what do you think? Would you buy Y water if it were available in Australia?

Y water currently retails in the US for USD$1.69 per bottle. It is currently not available in Australia.