Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo Vitamin water

Ann Chapman recently was at the home of a relative who was serving Diet Coke Plus, the new vitamin-fortified sibling of the traditional diet cola.

Chapman had no trouble telling her host what she thought of the product.

“It’s just bogus as far as I’m concerned,” she says.

Her opinion might matter more than most. As a dietitian with the Watkins Student Health Center at Kansas University, she frequently gets questions about the latest food and diet products.

Vitamin-enhanced beverages certainly fall under that category. In addition to the high-profile Diet Coke Plus, there are dozens of waters and juices that have entered the market.

Coca-Cola recently made a strong statement about the future of these types of drinks. The drink giant spent $4.1 billion to buy Energy Brands, which produces Glaceau Vitamin Waters. Coca-Cola previously launched a line of Dasani fortified waters.

A recent market study said “nutraceutical” beverages – ones that claim to have a medicinal value for health – will be a $9.9 billion industry by 2010.

Balanced diet

But Chapman and other nutrition experts have reservations about vitamin-enhanced beverages, saying they might lead drinkers to think they’re receiving more nutrition than they actually are.

“Just focusing on a balanced diet is a better way to get nutrients,” Chapman says. “It’s better to get your nutrients in food and hydrate yourself with water.”

But she says she can understand why these products – and fortified soda in particular – might become more popular.

“I think some people do feel guilty drinking soda,” Chapman says. “Drinking fortified soda eases their guilt so they think, ‘I can justify drinking Diet Coke.'”

Reading labels

Crissy Kaleekal, director of clinical nutrition for Kansas University Hospital, has a theory for why so many companies are trying to get into the vitamin-beverage market.

With some schools outlawing soda, drink-makers are looking for other products for vending machines.

Kaleekal worries that those who buy such drinks won’t pay attention to what’s actually in them. She notes that Diet Coke Plus, for example, contains only five vitamins and minerals, and none are found in a quantity of more than 25 percent of the recommended daily allowance.

“The percentage they have is so little,” she says. “People don’t take time to read labels. They just know it’s adding vitamins and minerals. They think, ‘Not only is it tasty, but it’s good for me.'”

Kaleekal says taking one multivitamin a day would be a more effective – and far cheaper – way to get the daily recommendations for even more vitamins.

Supplemental drinks

But Susan Stribling, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola, says products such as Diet Coke Plus and others aren’t meant to be a sole means for a healthy diet.

“It’s just another way to get vitamins and minerals and supplement, not replace, another source,” she says. “It’s meant to be part of your balanced diet.”

Stribling says the substances found in Diet Coke Plus – niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium and zinc – were chosen based on surveys showing those were the vitamins and minerals consumers wanted.

Several vitamin-fortified beverages focus on B vitamins. Other vitamins include:

¢ The berry-pomegranate variety of Fruit2O includes vitamins A, C, E, B6 and B12, as well as niacin, biotin and pantothenic acid.

¢ The peach-mango flavor of Jones 24C Multi-Vitamin Drink contains vitamins C and B12, as well as chromium.

¢ Glaceau’s lemonade contains vitamins A and C and calcium.

Stribling says in producing Diet Coke Plus, Coca-Cola is simply offering a product its consumers demand.

“This appeals to the Diet Coke drinker, who has another reason to drink another Diet Coke or keep drinking Diet Cokes,” she says. “And it appeals to those who are not Diet Coke drinkers, to give them extra appeal to drink it.”

That worries Kaleekal, who thinks the current vitamin-beverage craze is more marketing than substance.

“It can really mislead people,” she says.