Often one may be assaulted with the decision, do I choose this vitamin water, or do I choose this fruit and/or berry juice this lunch (or morning tea, afternoon tea, breakfast or dinner, whenever one may be disposed to such a choice)..
In response to this rather urgent question, several researchers examined the polyphenol content (antioxidant phytochemicals) of a large variety of vitamin-enhanced waters and fruit/berry juices to find if there were a difference.
It seems there is...a statistical difference in fact...between the polyphenol content contained in the drinks of both of these groups. Measured as catechin equivalents and removing the effect of ascorbate (vitamin C) on the data, it was found that there was a statistically significant higher quantity of catechin equivalents (antioxidants essentially) in the fruit and berry juices compared to the vitamin-enhanced waters.
Of course the association of specific brands to polyphenol content were not released, however we will have to remain confident in the ability of the researchers to define what a fruit/berry juice is and, concordantly, what a vitamin-enhanced water may be.
Though this at first glance may appear to guide our choices forever more, before the entirety of health conscious consumers terrified of ageing and the like flock to the fruit and berry juices and the vitamin-enhanced water market dwindles into oblivion, I ask them to stop and think. What else are antioxidants? Why vitamin A, E, C, Coenzyme Q10 and selenium, not to mention the numerous other nutrients contributing to glutathione production and superoxide dismutase, are. Therefore simply because catechin equivalents may be higher in fruit/berry juices compared to vitamin-enhanced waters doesn't necessarily mean the entire antioxidant capacity of these waters is negligible, in fact it may be higher...unless of course the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent reacts with these nutrients which are then detected, and confused for catechin equivalents, by the Thermo Spectronic Genesys 20 spectrophotometer, in which case the fruit/berry juices substantially annihilate the vitamin waters. However I remain unsure if this is the case, and I really need to get back to studying the physiology of bone linear growth...it's so nice reading 'epiphyseal plate' and 'zone of resting cartilage' again, it's been so long...
I hope this may help, or at least tickles your interest, in the world of polyphenols and beverages...
Reference - http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/2/12/1290/pdf (This is a pdf, so beware of the size, if you wish to see only the abstract)
