Shelves stocked with juice bottles of various brands in the cooler section. has no financial relationship with any advertisers on this site.
And they’re popular. These days, nearly 40 percent of adults seek out drinks with ingredients said to confer wellness, according to the market research firm Packaged Facts. One possible reason: Consumers have “pill fatigue,” according to Howard Telford, senior industry manager for soft drinks research at Euromonitor International, a strategic market research firm in Chicago. And beverages are seen as an easier, more enjoyable way to get herbs and other supplements into diets, he said.
That is because the drinks don’t have the variety of bacteria that those foods do. Plus, the foods are fermented, a process that creates other compounds that are good for us, according to Perelman. Raw kombucha and Spare Food tonic, a drink that contains leftover whey from yogurt-making, are fermented. But probiotic sodas are not.
Wellness waters such as those from Aura Bora and Ruby can make a nice change from regular seltzer. Plus, they have no added sugars or sugar alternatives. And if you’re keeping an eye on calories, Aura Bora has none and Ruby has just 15 .