Monday, May 21, 2007

Um, There's a Pumpkin in my Pomegranate

On the way back to LA from a whirlwind Wisconsin wedding weekend, I had an extra minute in the Minneapolis airport to grab a snack. After a Saturday spent consuming copious amounts of M&Ms and wedding cake, I was in search of that ultra-elusive airport find: healthy edibles.

At first glance, Pomegranate + Blackberry Radiant Airforce Nutrisoda seemed just the ticket. No aspartame, no sodium, no caffiene. Full of health amino acids, vitamin D, and other antioxidants. And surely some pomegranate and blackberry parts, right? Wrong. Elderberry and Chokeberry juice color? Sure. Carrot and Pumpkin juice color? Yep. But the fruit for which the drink was actually named? Not according to the ingredients on the back of the can.

PS--What the heck is "juice color"? Anyone know what that means? How's it different than "carrot and pumpkin juice"?

4 comments:

KT said...

I'm guessing the pomegranate and blackberry are the "natural flavors"?

Juice color is weird. Maybe they squeeze out all the flavor and just leave the color. But how could they not get color out of pomegranates and blackberries?

That is also a really impressive name. And I like how they come in Therapeutic packs, like the "Smoker's Quit pack," which promises to kep you calm, focused and slender as you quit smoking. I'd love to see it.

Connie said...

whoa... very suspect. i think too many companies are trying to hop on the pomegrantate craze and too many are doing a crappy job of it

H. C. said...

my guess is that the juice is being used for color (rather than flavor) purposes - like beet juice.

But yea, definitely weird ingredient wording.

Anonymous said...

Glad you found out about Nutrisoda. Some good detail behind the natural colors and natural flavors of Nutrisoda is warranted and are good "goods" to know. As a fellow 'foodie' dietitian and director of wellness at Nutrisoda I wanted to post the following info.

-Nutrisoda’s Radiant is a natural pinkish color that comes from four different fruits and vegetables; elderberry, chokeberry, carrot juice and pumpkin juice. All combined help Radiant achieve it’s natural pink hue.

Nutrisoda’s Radiant flavor is indeed from pomegranate and blackberry fruit extracts. No juice is used in the making of Nutrisoda but these 2 natural fruit extracts are. This is on the label under "Natural flavor"

The four natural ingredients that make up the color are not to be confused with the natural ingredients that make the unique and enjoyable flavor of pomegranate + blackberry Radiant.

Also having zero to few calories and zero sugar is a great plus to the nutrient enhanced elements of all 8 Nutrisodas.

Thanks for spending some time with us here at Nutrisoda!