Panela Drink

Pannela is an organic panela drink containing water, organic panela, natural flavor and citric acid. It apparently is a good source of vitamin c (it has 15% of ones daily value), it is sodium and fat free and low in calories. But what is it exactly? Panela is another word for cane juice. Cane juice is practically sugar making this drink sugar water. It tastes similar to raw sugar. On their site they have a link to Wikipedia explaining how panela is an unrefined sugar product. It possibly is a healthy sugar substitute since it is unrefined. But a drink of this pure sugar can not be very health beneficial. Yet many internet sites claim that it is healthy and can even prevent rickets. Vitamin c is present in sugar cane, but it truly is not that much. Surely it is better than no vitamin c at all, but in my opinion there are better ways to get it than loading up on sugar. There is citric acid in the Pannela drink. It is the last on the list of ingredients… meaning that it is not very significant. But it possibly increases the vitamin c content in the beverage. Vitamin Water is desperately trying to give consumers an image of health and popularity. They use celebrities and atheletes on their bottles to draw consumers in. Unfortunately the vitamins in the water are artificial along with the colors and flavorings. The sugar in the water is processed. So the main difference in Vitamin water and Pannela is that Pannela at least is organic, and uses sugar that is not processed, while Vitamin Water is an artificial way to attain vitamins. If you notice, there is a small picture of sugar cane next to the fruit on the Pannela drink. I suppose they are trying to emphasize the fruit flavoring in the drink but really to me it tasted like pure sugar, minimal fruit taste. Conclusion: it is best to get vitamins from actual food than from a processed drink like Vitamin Water or a drink with really not that many vitamins but lots of sugar like Pannela. Go eat a pomegranate!