Aquafina Alive Wellness Water Vs. Propel Fitness Water: A Vitamin Drink Comparison

To maintain hydration, especially during exercise, health experts recommend consuming 64 oz. (or eight glasses of water) per day. Though cold and refreshing, plain water, no matter how artistically packaged, can just be boring. It's colorless, odorless, tasteless and nutrition-less, even though its imperative to human body function.

To break the monotony of consuming regular old water, leading beverage companies have added a little flavor and lots of vitamins to their products. The vitamins -- and the slight addition of sugar-- do add a noticeable bit of energy to a workout. Or, perhaps, it's a placebo effect. At any rate, the exotic flavor pairings offered do make the task of keeping up with the eight glasses of water intake a day challenge a little more bearable.

Two of the most popular fitness waters are Aquafina Alive Wellness Water and Propel Fitness Water, a product of Gatorade. Each contains vitamins and interesting fruit pairings to add flavor to a workout routine.

Aquafina Alive Wellness Water, bottled by Pepsico, Inc., is available in Berry Pomegranate, Orange Lime and Peach Mango. The 20 oz. or 16.9 oz bottles are packaged in the same shaped bottle as regular Aquafina water, with an added mountain-range like design on the bottle neck to inspire athletic performance. A blue label with a colorful stripe and a picture of fruit, different for each flavor, invites consumers to "replenish - cleanse." Aquafina Alive Wellness Water also carries a "smart spot" to indicate that it is a smart choice for the health-conscious consumer.

Each 8 oz. serving of flavored water contains ten calories, 65 mg of sodium, two carbohydrates and ten percent of an American's daily value of Niacin and Vitamins B6 and B12 (all based on a 2,000 calorie diet). Sweetened with aspartame, Aquafina Alive Wellness Water has a light, tart flavor that, to the sensitive palate, can taste almost chemical. The flavor pairings, while exotic and interesting, can be overshadowed by the aspartame, which can be offensive to consumers who do not like Splenda or Sweet and Low, which have the same overtones.

Propel Fitness Water, produced by Gatorade, is available in 16.9 oz, 23.7 oz. and one-liter bottles -- which are all ribbed and easy to grip. Propel flavors include melon, berry, black cherry, lemon, kiwi-strawberry, peach, grape and tropical citrus. The larger Propel bottles have sports caps, which are easy to use during a workout because they eliminate the need to re-cap an open container.

Named "Best Drink" in 2005 by Health magazine, Propel contains a wider range of daily vitamins. Eight ounces of Propel provides ten percent of an American's daily value of vitamins C and E; twenty-five percent DV of Niacin, Vitamin B6 and Pantothenic Acid; and four percent DV of Vitamin B12. Each serving also contains ten calories, 35 grams of sodium and three grams of carbohydrates.

For Gatorade fans, Propel Fitness Water is a lighter alternative to the original, with a hint of familiar Gatorade flavor. Sweetened with sucrose syrup, the water has a strong fruit taste without the aspartame tartness. Further down on the ingredient list, Propel is also made sweeter by sucralose and acesulfame potassium. Of the available flavors, black cherry, grape and melon taste the most natural. Lemon and peach leave a bit of a chemical residue on the taste buds.
Both Aquafina Alive Wellness Water and Propel Fitness Water are available at beverage retailers worldwide for about the same $1 - $1.50 price for a 20 oz. bottle. Between the two, Propel has much more to offer athletes concerned with vitamin intake. The sports-friendly packaging is also a plus. Propel offers a much wider variety of flavors than Aquafina Alive, without the aspartame after-taste.