Tidbits: Half water again

Article by: AL SICHERMAN , Star Tribune
Updated: November 3, 2010 - 3:28 PM

0
comments
resize text
print
buy reprints

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

Half water again

Those who need a drink that combines vegetables and fruit already had V8 V-Fusion. It's 100 percent juice, and an 8-ounce glass provides a full serving of fruit and a full serving of vegetables. It has 120 calories and something like 25 grams of sugar (from the fruit and vegetables).

So naturally, we also already had V8 V-Fusion Light. It's 50 percent juice -- the first ingredient is water -- and an 8-ounce glass provides a single combined serving of fruit and vegetables. It has 50 calories and 10 grams of sugar. The missing sweetness is provided by sucralose.

And now we have V8 V-Fusion + Tea. Like V8 V-Fusion Light, it's 50 percent juice -- the first ingredient is water -- and an 8-ounce glass provides a single combined serving of fruit and vegetables. It, too, has 50 calories, 10 grams of sugar and sucralose. The only difference appears to be that V8 V-Fusion + Tea includes some green-tea extract.

So. How much less do we pay for V8 V-Fusion when it is diluted to 50 percent by the addition of an equal amount of water and some sweetener and maybe a teabag? Not a penny less. This is almost as clear a ripoff as the next item.

Also half water, but ...

New Trop50 "orange juice beverage" ("50% less sugar & calories"), from Tropicana. Regular Tropicana orange juice is 100 percent juice (not from concentrate); an 8-ounce glass contains 110 calories and 22 grams of sugar.

An 8-ounce glass of Trop50 contains 50 calories and 10 grams of sugar. That's because it's 42 percent juice -- the first ingredient is filtered water. Then comes not-from-concentrate orange juice. The last ingredient (after starch, natural flavors, etc.) is "Reb A (Pure Via brand)." That's rebaudioside A, one of the components of the natural sweetener stevia.

Amazingly, half-water Trop50 costs more than regular Tropicana! At one store the 59-ounce bottle of Tropicana is $3.49; that of Trop50 is $4.19.

AL SICHERMAN