Powerade Option Strawberry Flavor

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Jul 6, 2007

Coca Cola's Powerade Option Strawberry is marketed as a "low calorie, low carb sports drink" although it looks like water - no coloring in the strawberry flavor. I think it was a genius move not to market it as flavored water, because this is way too sweet to ever be called water. Coca Cola did all kinds of marketing hype when it originally released Powerade Option, comparing it to Gatorade, down to similar looking websites, and saying this was a lower calorie, better tasting option. But since Powerade has no energy enhancement (as Gatorade pointed out), I decided to compared it to Gatorade's Propel Fitness Water, which is more of a similar product.

Taste: Propel is better tasting in my opinion, simply because it isn't as intensely sweet as Powerade Option. Score 1 point for Propel.

Sweeteners: Powerade uses high fructose corn syrup (the 2nd ingredient) while Propel uses sucrose syrup. They both also use the artificial sweeteners sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame K. Score 1 point each.

Added Vitamins: Powerade has 10% niacin, vitamins B6 and 12. Propel has 25% niacin, vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid, 10% vitamins C and E and 4% B12. Score 1 point for Propel.

So ... maybe Powerade has something extra you're thinking, because it is a "sports drink" with a strong sounding name. Where is the power coming from? Well, there is nothing else in the ingredients other than flavoring - unless you count "electrolytes", and all that means is that it has a little sodium and potassium (1 and 2% of the RDA). So this is essentially sweetened, vitamin enhanced water. And there is nothing wrong with that except 10% of any vitamin is not much at all - certainly this is not going to power you up for anything. Don't believe the hype! Winner: Propel!

Still, if your taste runs towards sweeter flavored waters, then this might be for you. I didn't detect any aftertaste and there is a slight tartness that I also liked. There are only 10 calories per serving - the bottle is 32 ounces - which means there are 40 calories per bottle.

One 32 ounce bottle of Powerade Option is competitively priced at $1.25, but this wouldn't be my sports drink of choice.

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