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Culinary

What is Enhanced Water?

Dana Hinders
By
Updated Feb 21, 2024
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Although water makes up 60 percent of your total body weight and most nutrition experts recommend drinking six to eight glasses of water per day, many people find staying adequately hydrated to be a challenging task. Fortunately, there are a number of enhanced water products available that provide a convenient way to increase your daily fluid intake.

The term enhanced water is generally used to refer to any type of bottled water that has added ingredients to improve its taste and/or offer additional nutritional benefits. Enhanced waters are sometimes called fortified water or herbal water. In the United States, some of the most common enhanced water products are sold under the brand names Propel Fitness Water, Glaceau Vitamin Water, Base Energy + Water, Ice Botanicals, and VitaZest.

Contrary to popular belief, all enhanced water products are not created equal. There are products advertised as spring water, sparkling water, oxygenated water, water with fruit-juice concentrate, and flavored non-carbonated water. Some enhanced water products have no calories, while others contain almost as many calories as a sports drink. There are bottled water blends to boost your energy and improve your mental focus, as well as products marketed specifically to meet the needs of women or athletes. When choosing an enhanced beverage, it’s best to read the label carefully to make sure the product fits your needs.

Drinking enhanced water can be beneficial if it helps you reduce your consumption of sugary sodas. However, it’s important to realize that enhanced water is not intended to be a substitute for a well balanced diet. Even if you’re getting extra vitamins and minerals in your flavored bottled water, you still need to make smart choices during meal time. Choosing enhanced water, then stopping for a fast food burger on the way home from work isn’t an effective way to improve your overall health.

If you choose an enhanced water product that contains caffeine or guarana, it’s also a good idea to keep track of how much you’re drinking in a particular day. Small amounts of these stimulants can temporarily increase your energy level, but drinking too much can leave you feeling nervous and jittery. In addition, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant limit their daily caffeine intake due to an increased risk of miscarriage or low birth weight.

WiseGEEK is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Dana Hinders
By Dana Hinders
With a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Iowa, Dana Hinders brings a strong foundation to her work as a freelance writer. After discovering her passion for freelance writing following the birth of her son, Dana has been a vital part of the WiseGEEK team. She also showcases her versatility by creating sales copy and content for e-courses and blogs.
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Discussion Comments

By lluviaporos — On Jun 07, 2011

@irontoenail - I agree with you in some ways, but I will still buy enhanced water occasionally. I reuse the bottles with tap water, because I do like to have some water onside in case I get thirsty.

The whole needing six glasses of water a day thing is a little bit of a myth. It includes water you get from eating and there is quite a lot of water in things like fruit for example.

But you should still stay hydrated, if you can and enhanced drinks can make drinking water more palatable to people who usually would only drink soda or coffee.

I think they should recycle the bottles. But aside from that I think it's your money, do what you like with it.

By irontoenail — On Jun 05, 2011

Personally, I don't think most enhanced water products are worth the money you pay for them, or the packaging that goes into to transporting them (and which inevitably ends up in the trash and in the landfill).

Some of them have some vitamins added, but it's cheaper to buy a pack of vitamins at the drug store. It's also cheaper to simply buy a water filter and a proper sports bottle if you want to have filtered water at your side 24 hours a day. They've found some of the time you are just buying tap water in a pretty package anyway.

Dana Hinders

Dana Hinders

With a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Iowa, Dana Hinders brings a strong foundation to...
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