Product Review of New Beverage Trend: Fuze® Healthy Infuzions (Green Tea)

This is the fifth year for the Fuze® Beverage Company (www.drinkfuze.com) and Fuze® drinks seem to be found everywhere, from convenience stores to grocery stores. The product that Fuze® founders Lance Collins and Paula Grant created in a basement is now part of the mainstream.

With the beverage market saturated by carbonated drinks, the success of non-carbonated Fuze® drinks is nothing short of phenomenal. Fuze® beverages are clearly the latest health food trend.

I recently purchased a Fuze® beverage at a local convenience store. At about a dollar and half, the Fuze® beverage cost more than the sodas and juices that were available. My purchase was part of the Tea product line: Green Tea. (According to the company website, Fuze® beverages are divided into four product lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, and Vitalize.)

The 18 oz bottle of Fuze® Healthy Infuzions Green Tea was brightly colored and covered with health claims. The decorative bottle contained pictures of a bee entering a honey comb, green leaves which I presume are tea leaves, and oriental characters of unknown meaning. The design is almost art in and of itself.

I drank this beverage straight from bottle. I found it to have a pleasant sweet flavor (almost too sweet for my tastes). The sweetness in the taste is probably accounted for by the fact that the second and third ingredients on the ingredient list are crystalline fructose and honey. The product was pale in color, very similar to green tea that I've had in Chinese restaurants. It was cool, having come from the cooler in the convenience store. If given a choice, I probably would have preferred to have it served with ice. All in all, I would drink this beverage again.

Fuze® may be the latest fad, but is it really good for you? I'm not a doctor, but I wanted to find out. This article presents a layman's perspective only on the possible health benefits of Fuze®.

The bottle prominently lists the healthy ingredients inside: 190 mg of Polyphenols, 225 mcg of Folic Acid, 67 mg of Vitamin C, 33 IU of Vitamin E, and 36mg of Vitamin B Complex (B3, B5, B6, B12). A bright gold box proclaims that the bottle contains equal antioxidant capacity as three servings of vegetables per bottle: measured by Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (*ORAC).

I understand about all of the vitamins being good for me, and my research confirmed what the bottle said about Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and the Vitamin B Complex. Two of the terms, Polyphenols and Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, were new to me.

What are Polyphenols? I looked it up in Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org). The information there confirmed the claims found on the bottle-some polyphenols are antioxidants that may reduce the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The Wikipedia article also quoted a BBC article that found that these same antioxidants may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (a claim not found on my bottle of Fuze®). Alzheimer's disease runs in my family, maybe I should be drinking these every day?

What is Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC)? According to research conducted by the USDA (www.ars.usda.gov) at Agricultural Research Service's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston, is a measurement for the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemicals. Early research seems to show that a diet with a lot of high-ORAC foods may slow the aging process.

Can Fuze® Healthy Infuzions beverages improve your health? While research remains in the early stages for some Fuze® ingredients, it is quite clear that other ingredients can be beneficial. If you like the way Fuze® tastes and are willing to spend a little bit more for a beverage, you may just find that Fuze® can be a part of your healthy diet.