Juice
Wateroos All-Natural Flavored Water in Apple and Berry
Free of sugar and artificial sweeteners, these waters come in kid-friendly flavors and packaging. All Natural Flavored Water, $3 for 6, Wateroos.
What the kids said: This product was a bit confusing to some of our tasters. "I don't get it," said Jose. "It tastes like water pretty much, but they add other ingredients." Others noted a slight chemical smell. "Like, almost like bubble bath or something," said Jamie, 10.
The verdict: Taste, 3; Excitement, 3
Froose Juice
Enriched with organic brown-rice syrup, the product claims to deliver the complex carbohydrates and fiber that is missing in other kid-drink options. Froose Juice, $30 for 40 boxes, Froose.
What the kids said: The thicker consistency was surprising. "It's in between juice and something else. It's good, but just really different," said Carlos, 10, who enjoyed the Peach flavor, which scored higher with all the kids than the Pear and Cherry flavors.
The verdict: Taste, 5 for Peach, 3 for Pear, 3 for Cherry; Excitement, 4 for Peach, 2 for Pear, 2 for Cherry
NUI Kid Water
Available in three flavors—Outrageous Orange, Purple Power (grape), and Raging Red (cherry)—it's made and sweetened with real fruit juice and pumped with the natural ingredients like vitamins, minerals, calcium, fiber, green-tea antioxidants, and electrolytes. Kid Water, $17 for 12, Nui Water.
What the kids said: As with the Wateroos, NUI proved more confusing to the kids because the fruit juice smell didn't match the flavor. "It just tastes too much like water," said Diana, 10.
The verdict: Tastes, 3; Excitement, 3
What the nutritionist said: Schoen would prefer that kids just stick with plain old water, but she chose the Wateroos as the best of the three options we gave her. "It's just basically waster with a natural flavor of apple, but it's confusing, as apple isn't listed as an ingredient," she said. Froose comes in second due to its small serving size and high content of fiber. And NUI comes in last. "It is basically kids juice on steroids," she said of NUI. "On the positive side it has quite a few added vitamins and three grams of fiber, but on the negative side it has 20 ingredients."
Next Page: Cookies
