Crystal Light Nutrition

We've all heard that we should drink eight glasses of water a day. You can make it easier to gulp down all that water by mixing in Crystal Light, but be aware of its nutritional information first.

• Stir in Crystal Light to flavor your water.

Function

• Crystal Light is a low-calorie drink mix. Mix the powder with water to make a flavored drink.

Types

• Crystal Light comes in more than 40 flavors, divided into four product lines. The refreshment line includes fruit flavors (e.g., lemonade, white grape, andstrawberry kiwi); the tea line comprises several flavored iced teas; the sunrise line offers citrus flavors; and the enhanced line claims to offer essential nutrients in such flavors as green tea peach mango and natural cherry pomegranate.

Features

• All the Crystal Light varieties have five calories per serving. The sunrise line of flavors contains 100 percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin C and 10 percent of the recommended daily value of calcium. The enhanced line includes other nutrients designed to increase energy, immunity, and metabolism.

Significance

• Crystal Light has positioned its drink mix as healthy because it encourages people to drink more water, without any added calories from sugar.

Considerations

• Crystal Light uses the controversial sweetener aspartame. However, according to a 2006 study performed by the National Cancer Institute, "increasing levels of consumption [of products containing aspartame] were not associated with any risk of lymphomas, leukemias, or brain cancers in men or women."