Health Drinks Guide: How to Select From the Various Healthy Drinks

Health Drinks Guide. Learn more about the various health drinks, their benefits and how to select from the various healthy drinks.

Healthy Drinks: Going Back in Time

Ancient Chinese always known the benefits of drinking natural health drinks for better health. People have been having Tea for thousands of years, whereas Coffee has been around for centuries. Both offer good health benefits.

Tea was first discovered in China in 2737 B.C. According to Chinese records, the emperor would only drink water which is boiled to make sure that it is indeed clean. During a trip, a servant boiled water and a dried leaf fell on the boiling water. It turned the water brown but was still served to the emperor. The emperor drank the concoction and found it very refreshing.
Coffee, on the other hand, has been traced to as early as the 9th century. Coffee was largely cultivated in Ethiopia. Soon, the Arabs started trading it, bringing it to northern Africa where it was mass-cultivated. After being popular in Africa, it started to enter Indian and European Markets.
Europe and Asia pioneered energy drinks. In 1901, the first energy drink was released in Scotland called Im-Bru. While in Japan, their energy drinks can be traced as early as 1960s. Although they cite that there are already some attempts in mixing different minerals with water before World War II, they released Lipovitan in the early 1960s. South Korea also produced “genki drinks” which are also energy drinks.
In 1929, Lucozade Energy was used as a hospital drink in the United Kingdom. This drink was primarily for helping the speedy recovery of hospital patients. In the 1980s, this drink was commercially released as an energy drink meant to replace lost energy.
The worldwide leading energy drink, Red Bull, was created and marketed by an Austrian entrepreneur. This leading energy drink was created in Europe. It was based on a Thai drink called Krating Daeng, which is also based on Lipovitan. Red Bull entered the United States market in 1997, and is currently the dominant brand. It’s approximate market share is as big as 47 percent.
For sports drinks, the first one created was for the purpose of improving the performance of athletes and sports star, was for the Florida Gators. That is why the first product, which was released during 1960s, was called Gatorade. The main purpose of this drink is to provide to lengthen the performance levels and aid hydration of athletes.
As early as 1985, the United States have started to introduce energy drinks. They had the Jolt Cola. While in 1995, PepsiCo launched the Josta. This was the first energy drink made by a leading United States beverage company.

Since then, energy drinks that are deemed as healthy have been popular and in high demand all over, thanks to a fast paced life and unhealthy lifestyle.

Why Health Drinks are Effective

More and more experts agree that vitamins and mineral supplements are the most beneficial to the human body when consumed in liquid form. Its because in this form, the body can absorb the nutrients easily. That’s why majority of the health drinks are available in a bottle or tetra packs that are ready for drinking. The ones that come in powder form need to be mixed with water to create your own health drink.

Health drinks today come in variations of fruits, vegetables, enzyme grains, nuts, seeds, and other herbs to make them more appetizing.

Benefits of health drinks
Health drinks today are made to deliver essential mineral and vitamins in the body, or to increase energy levels or to increase the muscle reaction to certain activities (watch out for those that are just flavored sugar).

Some of their claimed benefits would include rejuvenation (specially for the skin), improved eye-sight, anti-aging benefits like memory enhancement, anti-inflammatory, blood cleanser, detoxifier, immune system re-enforcer, good heart benefits and may even slow down certain cancers.

Here are some more benefits of health drinks:

Satisfies hunger and gives a sense of fullness. Makes up for the lost vitamins and minerals when people skip meals due to busy schedule.
Improves overall health, as health drinks are packed with vitamins and minerals, helps to fight off common diseases.
Helps enhance mental stability. Health drinks produce oxygen that keeps the blood vessels clear, helps to focus better at work or at home.

Tips for Buying Health Drinks

When choosing the best health drink for you, check the product component and said benefits based on the testimonials of the consumers. You could even take the opinion of your doctor on what can be consumed.

Fruit drinks, as a health drink, are often times used to supplement the diet. Fruit drinks are refreshing that is why a lot of people are including it in their diet. There are some sweetened fruit drinks available commercially, it is oftentimes used to replace soft drinks. If parents are having difficulty including fruits and vegetables in their children’s diet, then they would make health drinks out of it to make it more appealing to children.
Natural health drinks would include fruit juices. Recent studies reveal that coffee is also a natural health drink. It helps in fighting diseases, even reduce diabetes and heart diseases. There were also some studies showing that coffee can reduce the risk of bladder cancer for women.
Even tea has natural benefits. Green tea has antioxidants capabilities, boosts the immune function and helps prevent arteriosclerosis and cancer.
Compared to other health drinks, water is still the most valuable drink for our body. Water is important for the body since it would help the body absorb vitamins and nutrients. Body wastes are carried away by water, water can detoxify your kidneys and liver. Without water, the body will dehydrate. Water dehydration can make the blood thicker making it difficult to circulate around the blood streams.
There are a lot of commercially-made and natural health drinks which claim that can be beneficial to the body. But it is a decision that should always be done with the consideration of its long term effects on the body.

When Health Drinks are not Always Healthy

The trend of healthy living is so popular right now that healthy drinks can be bought almost everywhere. However, not all the so-called ‘healthy drinks” are good for you. So if you’re one of those who consume healthy drinks, its time to you get more knowledgeable about these drinks.

Check the Labels
To get healthy stuff into your body, make sure you check the labels of these foods—especially your favorite health drink—by yourself. Make sure these ingredients are not present in your health drink:

Phosphoric acid. These are also used in detergents, fertilizers, food flavoring and other pharmaceuticals products. These lead to irritation of the skin as well as the eyes.

High fructose corn syrup (concentrated sugar): Cause of weight gain in many people, especially in women. and could lead to high blood sugar levels.

Artificial flavors and sweeteners: More commonly known as as “excito-toxins”, these are common in most health drinks that are flavored-based. These are the same ones that you may find in sweet juices, colas and candy bars. Creates pH imbalances in the blood.

Processed vitamins: vitamins can be bad if they are liquefied, isolated, and heated, as the vitmains break down before the body can benefit from them.

Other things to look for include glycerol ester of wood resin because these are acid forming, the modified food starch, and the yellow 6, yellow 5 and red 40 because these are all artificial coloring or dyes.

Drinks that are not healthy (there are hundreds of beverages out there) can boost your waistline. Here are some suggestions to stay on the healthy side:

Looking for cool, alcoholic beverage to share in a hot night? Go for red wine or light beer.
Go for juices that has less amount of artificial sweeteners and calories (most juices are just sugared water); drinking real juice drinks can give you the necessary nutrients and vitamins
Diet or regular soda, they still have no nutritional value. Drinking soda is also related to tooth decay, especially in growing children