Disclaimer: Bai sent me a box of their product samples to review, however I am under no obligation to do so nor to make the review positive. This review reflects my personal opinion about these products.
A little over a year ago (already? wow!) I reviewed a drink called POM Wonderful that promised to be the next wonder-drink; backed by studies showing that patients who participated in published clinical studies experienced significant improvement in heart, prostrate & erectile health after drinking eight ounces of their pomegranate juice daily.
As I wrote at the time I'm no doctor nor scientist, so all I can really do is publish what they say about the science but my opinion about the taste of the drink is my own, and frankly if it doesn't taste good I really don't care what the science says. You'll have to read that review to see what I thought of it but let's just say that when I was contacted recently by Bai to sample some of their Bai Antioxidant Infusions I was actually a little hesitant to try them.
But I'm glad I did.
The Science
Antioxidants are nutrients found in foods and beverages that have health enhancing effects on your body. They neutralize free radicals that cause damage to your cells. Antioxidants work by donating an electron to free radicals to convert them to harmless molecules. A diet rich in antioxidants helps neutralize free radicals in your body, keeping your immune system strong while combating everything from wrinkles to heart disease and cancer.
Bai Antioxidant Infusions are "infused" with 400mg of the outer berry of the coffee bean, one of nature's most powerful antioxidants. According to the USDA using a scoring method called Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) the cofee fruit extract has 3,000 ORAC units per gram as compared to 24 for blueberries, 65 for pomegranates and 100 for acai berries.
I think that means science says that they are good for you. But how do they taste?
The Drink
My sample box contained 8 (or maybe 10 I lost count!) bottles with a mix of the following flavors: Tanzania Strawberry, Mango Kauai, Jamaica Blue Berry, Kenya Peach and Sumatra Dragonfruit (low calorie). They also have a low calorie Panama Peach but they were out of them. The first one I tried was Mango Kauai and let me tell you it was delicious! After that I was kind of anxious about trying the low calorie Sumatra Dragonfruit because I figured I may be let down with the low calorie option but in fact I actually liked it even better!
My 12 year old son concurred - he drank one of my Sumatra Dragonfruits and he also drank the only Tanzania Strawberry I had so I wasn't able to try that one. But he gave them two thumbs up too. Which is funny because his original review after a couple of sips was "not great but not terrible" but for that picky eater let me tell you that is a ringing endorsement. The fact he drank that bottle and another tells me all I need to know.
Here is a sample of nutritional info for a regular calorie and a low calorie bottle:
I'm working on another post on what I think about nutritional labels that word things with "about 2 servings" but I'll leave that alone for now and just point out that a regular bottle is about 140 calories and a low calorie bottle is about 10 calories. I can't afford to drink one of the regular drinks as that is too many of my daily calories to drink no matter how good they taste but since the low calorie Sumatra Dragonfruit drink is only about 10 calories and tastes as good or better, I may have just found my next non-water treat!
But don't just take my word on it, if you have read down this far you deserve a little something yourself. I'll be randomly selecting one of the first 10 commenters on this post (or until Monday, whichever comes first - US only, sorry) to receive your very own supply of Bai Antioxidant Infusions to try for yourself, courtesy of Bai!
Bottom line, I like these drinks and I hope I can find them at my local grocery store or coffee shop soon. Unfortunately right now they are only available in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Wisconsin, California and Seattle. They are shooting for national distribution in 2011.
Have you had Bai drinks before? Tell us what you thought about them. Know anything about those sugar alcohols in the low calorie drink? Educate us. Want to give them a try for free? Leave a comment and you might be able to!
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