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Aquabud Hydration Cans | Chewsday Review

This week’s Chewsday review is a new product on the market… Aquabud hydration cans. They’re claiming to keep busy, non-stop kids hydrated by using added electrolytes, but do your kids really need them?

Ingredients

New Zealand Spring Water, calcium citrate, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), magnesium phosphate, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, zinc gluconate, natural flavours, natural colours, steviol glycosides, citric acid.
Depending on the flavour, either cane sugar or juice concentrate are added to the ingredients above. Remember cane sugar and juice concentrate are still sugar, even if marketed as ‘natural’.
Essentially these are just water, electrolytes and sugar. Electrolytes can be important for correcting dehydration commonly associated with vomiting or diarrhoea but it’s not essential for them to be added to fluids for regular hydration. Even for busy kids.
Allergens: none

Positives

Within healthy guidelines* for sugar with 2.5g/100 ml. This is less than the sugar in typical electrolyte drinks, like Powerade, or other drinks like cordial, juice or soft drink. *Remember though that children absolutely don’t need sugar sweetened beverages, so this isn’t really a positive in my eyes. Other sweetened beverages like flavoured milk actually have some other benefits (like calcium) whereas these really don’t.
That is all I’ve got…

Negatives

A can of Aquabud contains 6.25g of sugar, from the cane sugar or juice concentrate. While this is within guidelines, it is still unnecessary and higher than plain water and some other flavoured waters on the market.
Spring water does not contain fluoride, which is important for healthy teeth. If your child is only drinking spring water then I’d recommend chatting to your dentist about this.
A 250mL can costs about $2.80 ($11.20/1L) and compared to home brand flavoured sparkling water, Aquabud is 10x the price! Plus, they can only be ordered online so there is an extra cost with shipping.
Individual single use cans have a greater environmental impact compared to if you could buy this in 1L bottles. Although, you can get 10c back per can with Containers for Change!

Marketing

“Thirst quenching hydration for non-stopping kids”- sounds like it is the miracle needed to stop active kids from getting dehydrated. Call me crazy, but water stops dehydration too.
“Free from artificial nasties found in many fruit drinks, soft drinks, cordials and sports drinks”- okay, so there are only natural preservatives and flavours in this, but I would love to know what an artificial nasty is!
The design on the packaging is very cute- cue the pester power for a ‘cool’ looking drink! I’ve also seen them popping up on influencer feeds all over the ‘gram…

Alternatives

This is not necessarily a bad product, and is a slightly better option than cordial, juice, soft drink or traditional electrolyte drinks. It just isn’t necessary for kids to have added electrolytes (or sugar) in water. If they are particularly active and sweating, extra water plus snacks, like cheese and crackers, a banana or sandwich, will be enough to replace sweat losses and give them energy to keep playing.
It may sound boring but plain water is so much better than these! You can easily flavour tap water with fresh or frozen fruit for a much lower price and equally hydrating effect.
If your child really struggles to drink plain water, and you’ve found these helpful then you could think about ways to gradually mix them with regular water to help them get used to the taste.