Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
Juice Boxes and Water: A Bad Idea or the Worst Idea?
Behold: water in a juice box.
The idea behind boxed water is that juice boxes are convenient, but the juice itself is bad for kids. Juice is bad? Sort of, in some ways, you betcha. Consumed on a daily basis at school (pre, elementary, high, etc.), water is safer for teeth, body weight and so forth.
Aqua2Go, by Esgee Enterprises, comes in a plain white and baby blue box. If it appears kind of boring, maybe it’s because "Adults everywhere are discovering the convenience of the drink box" according to the company’s opening website text. Kids are thrown a brief one-word mention in the title graphic ("& Kids").
Meanwhile, Wateroos by Maddie’s Beverage Company, is all-kid with cartoon-laden imagery. The boxes come in original, apple, berry and grape flavors. "Original" is a fancy way of saying "plain water."
The flavored versions contain only two ingredients â€” water and natural flavors. Precisely what a "natural flavor" consists of is a bit ambiguous. Maddie’s description leads off with a broad US federal definition and follows with its own explanation which isn’t much better.
Vegsource.com states about natural flavors, "It’s basically impossible to tell from a label what is in natural flavors unless the company has specified it on the label." So, natural flavors it is. One mother has reviewed the flavors, finding that her kid only really likes the "original" flavor.
Now… why do fruit juices get a bad rap?
- At school, juice coats teeth in bacteria-loving sugar for hours. The bacteria then produce acid that attacks teeth and causes cavities. It’s a bad idea to feed a toddler with sweeteners every day if the sweeteners won’t be brushed away for hours to come.
- Juice has a lot of calories, rivaling soda, contributing to childhood obesity.
- Physical whole fruits and vegetables are more nutritious than juice.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has specific recommendations:
- Fruit juice should not be given to infants before 6 months of age.
- After 6 months of age, infants should not get juice from bottles or cups that allow them to consume juice easily throughout the day.
- Infants should not get fruit juice at bedtime. (It’s an issue known as baby bottle tooth decay.)
- For children ages 1 to 6, intake of fruit juice should be limited to four to six ounces per day.
- For children ages 7 to 18, juice intake should be between eight and 12 ounces a day.
- All children should be encouraged to eat whole fruits.
As evil as juice can be when misused, boxed water is still a rotten idea. First, it creates needless waste for our landfills. The packaging can be recycled in some communities, but it’s still needless waste. If someone tried to talk up the recyclability of juice boxes, I’d say they are unclear on the concept of waste prevention. The Treehugger blog says it best with its blog article title, "Aqua2Go. To the Nearest Landfill."
Second, it’s damn expensive in comparison. Save yourself hundreds of dollars over preschool, elementary school and high school by buying a single stainless steel bottle and fill it at home. We use a Klean Kanteen that converts from 12 ounce sippy cup to sports bottle to traditional water bottle.
If the kids in our preschool are any measure, most Thinga-readers are probably pretty keen on juice. You may take it for granted that you’re doing right by your kids by feeding them nutritious juice.
My daughter is one of only three kids who bring water instead of juice to her preschool. Or rather, she has one of the three sets of parents who pack water for their preschoolers. So, hey, I’m just throwing the idea out there. Think about it.