CSPI Sues Coca Cola Over Vitamin Water
LOL – I’ve written about Vitamin Water before…turns out I’m not the only one who feels this way.
WASHINGTON—The Coca-Cola Company has been served notice of a class action lawsuit filed over what the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says are deceptive and unsubstantiated claims on its VitaminWater line of beverages. Coke markets VitaminWater as a healthful alternative to soda by labeling its several flavors with such health buzz words as “defense,” “rescue,” “energy,” and “endurance.” The company makes a wide range of dramatic claims, including that its drinks variously reduce the risk of chronic disease, reduce the risk of eye disease, promote healthy joints, and support optimal immune function.
In fact, according to CSPI nutritionists, the 33 grams of sugar in each bottle of VitaminWater do more to promote obesity, diabetes, and other health problems than the vitamins in the drinks do to perform the advertised benefits listed on the bottles.
…”When I bought VitaminWater, frankly I thought I was doing myself a favor health-wise,” said the plaintiff, San Francisco, California, resident James Koh, who used to purchase and drink VitaminWater after working out at the gym. “I was attracted by the prospect of getting extra vitamins. But I had no idea that I was actually getting almost a Coke’s worth of sugar and calories. There’s no way I would have spent money on that, had I known.”
…VitaminWater’s website, marketing copy, and labels claim that VitaminWater is healthy, claiming, for example, that “balance cran-grapefruit” has “bioactive components” that promote “healthy, pain-free functioning of joints, structural integrity of joints and bones” and that the nutrients in “power-c dragonfruit” “enable the body to exert physical power by contributing to the structural integrity of the musculoskeletal system.”
While it is true that vitamins do play various roles in the human body, the statements on VitaminWater labels go far beyond even the loose, so-called “structure/function claims” allowed by the Food and Drug Administration and cross the line into outright fraud, according to CSPI.
While there are times when I find the CSPI annoying, this isn’t one of them. I get a little tired of junk foods being passed off as health foods, simply because a few pennies worth of vites, minerals and/or antioxidants have been added. “Vitamin Water” is basically “Froot Loops” or “Trix” in a bottle, so I’m happy to see it attract some critical scrutiny in the media. Win, lose or draw, at least the publicity might encourage consumers to be a little more skeptical.
January 19, 2009
All James Koh (the plaintiff) had to do to find out the sugar content was look at the bottle. He sounds like an idiot from his quote:
“But I had no idea that I was actually getting almost a Coke’s worth of sugar and calories. There’s no way I would have spent money on that, had I known.”
January 19, 2009
LOL – well, I can’t completely disagree with that, although I know from experience that this is something that many people simply don’t do.
FWIW, I think that Coke does cross a line with this particular product, in that the use of the term “Water” as part of the name implies a low-cal product. In addition, the nutrition label is deceptive, as it lists the breakdown for 1 serving…which is less than half of the bottle. You really have to read the tiny print, and multiply the sugar value by 2.5 in order to figure out what drinking a full bottle is going to “cost” you.