New Dasani Plus Defend+Protect Vitamin Enhanced Flavored Water Health Drink

Vitamin-enhanced water is one of the more popular healthy options when it comes to what you should drink with your meal. Gatorade doesn't exactly market itself as the perfect complement for lunch, and Propel has a lighter taste yet is also sporty. There is still a market for a more palatable yet health-enhancing beverage that you could drink at anytime. Coca Cola noticed this and decided earlier this year to release Dasani Plus.

Dasani Plus comes in three flavors with three very specific functions. The Refresh+Revive is a kiwi-strawberry flavor enhanced with B vitamins. Cleanse+ Restore is a pomegranate and blackberry combination that comes with vitamin E, B vitamins and fiber. The flavor reviewed today is Defend+ Protect, an orange and tangerine combination with vitamin E and zinc. Can Dasani Plus replace my regular water and green tea beverages, or will it fall by the wayside as yet another marketing tool gone wrong?

Appearance Nutrition. As mentioned earlier, Dasani Plus Defend+Protect is an enhanced flavored water beverage. But how much enhanced? According to the label, each serving of Dasani Plus comes with 10% of the United States Recommended Daily Allowance of the vitamins listed, such as vitamin E and zinc in the Defend+Protect flavor.

There are 2 ½ servings in each 20 ounce bottle, so if you really need some zinc and vitamin E. Although the color is appealing and the label has pictures of the fruits on it, the bottle doesn't tell me exactly HOW I can be defended and protected with this enhancement. Maybe I'm expected to know what those vitamins and minerals exactly do for me other than knowing that they are good for me. Something like "with the extra vitamin E, your body will benefit from Dasani plus by blah blah blah" would have been nice.

Nonetheless, I also noticed the usual sweeteners and preservatives added to the zero calorie water. Potassium benzoate, acesulfame potassium, sucralose (a/k/a Splenda) and potassium sorbate were all there to make the drink a little sweeter and last longer. There's also 25 mg of sodium in the Dasani Plus drink, which adds up to 1% of the recommended allowance.

Taste. This is where the Dasani Plus failed me. The taste is absolutely boring. First, you get a hint of citrus, but not distinctive enough for me to say "wow this DOES taste like tangerines and oranges!" It is more like someone squirted the worst, acidy part of tasting oranges into some water and left it there.

But that part doesn't last too long. Everything after that initial citrus taste is sweeteners. I felt like someone just topped off my piece of orange peel in water with some Splenda. Drinking the Dasani Plus Defend+Protect was like my mom hiding some aspirin in some meatloaf, thinking I wouldn't notice.

My overall opinion of this drink is that it isn't worth purchasing. You're better off drinking the regular Dasani water and taking a multivitamin than to think that you are getting any healthier by drinking this beverage. Don't get me wrong; the water is drinkable, but it has no life to it.