What's Actually In That · Part 2
This series applies clinical nutritional assessment to consumer health products. Part 1 compared four electrolyte products on dose adequacy and ingredient quality. This post covers the broader supermarket health aisle — the products that have colonised the space between the soft drinks and the vitamins and occupy it with varying degrees of clinical legitimacy.
I want to be clear about my personal relationship with these products before the clinical assessment begins.
I do not buy them. I would not be seen buying them. I would certainly not be seen consuming them. And if I were actually consuming them I would consider this a professional failure of some kind, on the grounds that the gap between what they claim and what they contain is sufficiently well documented that I have no excuse for being surprised by it.
This is, I appreciate, an extreme position. Most of the people buying protein water or CBD water are doing so in good faith, responding to marketing that is often sophisticated, packaging that implies clinical credibility, and a general cultural shift toward "better for you" choices that is, in principle, positive.
The problem is not the impulse. The problem is the execution — products that appropriate the language of functional health, the visual vocabulary of clinical nutrition, and occasionally the names of genuinely effective ingredients, at doses and in forms that produce effects ranging from negligible to counterproductive.
Here is the clinical picture on eight of them.
The products
A bottle of flavoured water containing 10–25g of hydrolysed whey protein or collagen peptides, typically sweetened with sucralose or stevia, flavoured to resemble a sports drink. Marketed as a convenient protein hit for people who want to increase protein intake without a heavy shake.
The clinical problem
10–20g of protein per bottle is a real amount of protein — this is not nothing. The issue is cost, sweetener load, and the protein source. At £2–3 per bottle, you're paying a premium for a form factor. A chicken breast provides 30g of complete protein with all essential amino acids, costs under £1.50, and contains no artificial sweeteners. A whey protein shake at 30g costs approximately 50–80p. The hydrolysed format does improve absorption speed — but the marginal benefit of faster absorption over a whole food source is relevant only to elite athletes in specific training contexts, not to the general health-conscious consumer. The sucralose in most protein waters is a particular concern — sucralose has been shown to alter gut microbiome composition and impair insulin signalling even at zero caloric cost.
Better alternatives
Eat real protein at meals. If convenience is genuinely the driver, a high-quality whey or pea protein blended with water is cheaper and better dosed. Greek yoghurt (17g per 170g serving) costs a fraction of protein water.
Verdict:Skip — overpriced, undersized, sweetener concerns
Water infused with CBD (cannabidiol) — typically 2–10mg per can or bottle. Marketed for stress relief, sleep support, and general wellbeing. CBD has genuine pharmacological activity at appropriate doses — the problem is that "appropriate doses" and "what's in a CBD water" are very different numbers.
The clinical problem
The clinical dose ranges from published research are specific and consistent: anxiety requires 300–600mg, sleep improvement 25mg minimum, bowel disease 10mg daily, cancer-related pain 50–600mg, Parkinson's 75–300mg, psychosis 600mg. The 2–10mg in a CBD water represents at best the lowest end of the lowest clinical application — bowel disease at 10mg daily — and falls short of every other indication by an order of magnitude. There is a second problem specific to CBD water: CBD is hydrophobic — it does not dissolve well in water. Without nano-emulsification technology (which some products use but most don't), the CBD will have largely separated from the water before you open it, and what does remain has poor bioavailability by the oral aqueous route. CBD is better absorbed via sublingual oil, fat-based edibles, or inhalation. Adding it to water is among the least effective delivery routes available. You're buying the association with CBD, not the effect of CBD.
Better alternatives
If CBD is clinically indicated for your situation, a high-quality sublingual oil at therapeutic dose (25–75mg for sleep, higher for anxiety) from a reputable brand. Not water. The Trip canned drinks are actually tasty but you'd need to drink 30–150 cans to get a clinical CBD dose.
Verdict:Avoid — sub-therapeutic dose at best 1% of clinical range, worst possible delivery route for CBD
Flavoured water with added vitamins — typically B vitamins and vitamin C — along with sugar or artificial sweeteners. Positioned as a healthier alternative to soft drinks. Some contain electrolytes. The branding implies clinical benefit from the vitamin additions.
The clinical problem
Glacéau Vitaminwater's original formulation contained 13g of sugar per bottle — more than a digestive biscuit. The "zero" versions replace sugar with erythritol and stevia. The vitamin additions are real but modest — typically 10–25% NRV of B vitamins and 20–60% vitamin C. These are not therapeutic doses. They are compliance doses — enough to appear on the label but not enough to produce clinically meaningful effects in anyone eating a reasonably varied diet. The marketing implies that drinking this water improves your health. The honest version is that you're buying expensive sugar water or sweetener water with token vitamin additions. Coca-Cola owns Glacéau. This context is not coincidental.
Better alternatives
Water. A piece of fruit. If you want vitamin C, 1g of ascorbic acid costs less than 2p. If you want B vitamins, a quality B complex costs £8 for two months' supply.
Verdict:Avoid — sugar water with token vitamins, owned by Coca-Cola
Marine or bovine collagen peptides in fruit juice, water, or a flavoured drink — typically 2.5–10g per serving. Marketed for skin, joint, and gut health. Collagen peptides are genuinely absorbed and distributed to collagen-rich tissues. The question is dose adequacy, co-factor presence, and what you're getting for the money.
The clinical problem
The evidence base for collagen peptides is actually more solid than most of the other products in this post — there are genuine RCTs showing skin elasticity improvements and joint pain reduction. The dose matters: studies showing benefits typically use 5–10g daily for skin (Proksch et al., Skin Pharmacology and Physiology), and 10–40mg of specific type II collagen for joints. The 2.5g shots common in supermarket formats are at the low end of the range where effects are demonstrated. More importantly, collagen synthesis requires vitamin C as a cofactor — dietary collagen peptides that arrive without concurrent vitamin C may have their utility limited by the rate of hydroxylation. The expensive collagen shots in supermarkets rarely include meaningful vitamin C alongside. The fruit juice versions add sugar. The better products include vitamin C at appropriate levels.
Better alternatives
A quality collagen peptide powder (10g daily) taken with 500mg vitamin C — significantly cheaper per serving than the shots and better dosed. Ancient + Brave's powder format is actually a reasonable product. The shots are expensive and underdosed.
Verdict:Depends — ingredient has merit, most products underdosed; powder format better value
Fermented tea produced by a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). Genuine kombucha contains live cultures, organic acids (acetic acid, gluconic acid), B vitamins from fermentation, and small amounts of alcohol. Marketed heavily as a probiotic drink and gut health product.
The clinical problem — the imposters
The supermarket kombucha problem is pasteurisation. Many supermarket and budget kombucha products are pasteurised after fermentation to extend shelf life and standardise alcohol content — which kills the live cultures that constitute the probiotic benefit. You're left with acidic fizzy tea. Some products are then re-inoculated with probiotic strains post-pasteurisation, but the strains used may not be the ones produced naturally by kombucha fermentation. The label says "live cultures" — it doesn't say "the live cultures that survived a clinical dose." Look for: raw/unpasteurised on the label, refrigerated storage (pasteurised versions sit at room temperature), small-batch producers who haven't scaled to the point where pasteurisation becomes necessary for shelf stability.
The genuinely good ones
GT's Synergy (raw, unpasteurised, refrigerated) is the gold standard. Jarr Kombucha is a good UK option. Equinox is decent. Supermarket own-brand room-temperature kombucha — skip it. The probiotic value is zero. You're paying for the aesthetic of gut health without the biology of it.
Verdict:Depends — raw unpasteurised: genuinely useful; pasteurised supermarket versions: overpriced fizzy tea
Small fermented dairy shots (65–100ml) containing specific probiotic strains — Yakult contains Lactobacillus casei Shirota; Actimel contains Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. Marketed as immune and gut health support. These products have the most evidence of any in this list — the Yakult strain specifically has been studied extensively.
The clinical limitations
The Yakult evidence is real — L. casei Shirota has genuine clinical data for immune modulation, reducing antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, and surviving gastric transit. The problem is context. A single strain at 6.5 billion CFU in a 65ml sugar-containing drink is a very different proposition from a multi-strain, high-dose probiotic supplement. Yakult contains 11.4g of sugar per 65ml — more than many fruit juices per equivalent volume. Actimel contains added sugars. The dairy base may be a concern for those with dairy sensitivity. And the dose — while not trivial — is far below what high-quality therapeutic probiotic supplements deliver. You're paying roughly £1 per shot for a single strain at modest dose in a sugar vehicle. Clinical probiotic supplements deliver 25–100 billion CFU of multiple validated strains for equivalent cost per dose.
Better alternatives
A quality multi-strain probiotic supplement — Symprove (liquid, validated survival), VSL#3 (high-dose, clinical evidence in IBD), or a quality capsule from Seeking Health or Designs for Health. If the Yakult is genuinely helping someone — particularly immunocompromised individuals or those on antibiotics — the evidence supports continued use. But as a general daily habit for gut health, the sugar load and single-strain limitation are real constraints.
Verdict:Skip as a general habit — sugar vehicle, single strain; evidence exists for specific uses but better options available
Oat milk or nut milk drinks containing small amounts of adaptogens — ashwagandha, lion's mane, reishi, maca, chaga — in a ready-to-drink format. Positioned at the intersection of wellness culture and convenience. The adaptogen ingredients are genuinely bioactive. The doses are not genuinely clinical.
The clinical problem
Ashwagandha (KSM-66 or Sensoril extract) shows HPA axis modulation effects at 300–600mg daily in clinical studies. A ready-to-drink adaptogen latte typically contains 50–200mg of a non-specified ashwagandha extract — not KSM-66 or Sensoril, which are the studied, standardised forms. Lion's mane shows neurotrophin-stimulating effects at 500–3,000mg daily in studies. Functional drinks containing lion's mane typically provide 50–250mg. Reishi has immune effects at 1.5–9g daily. The pattern is consistent: the ingredient is real, the dose is approximately one-tenth of where clinical effects are demonstrated, and the extract quality is unstated. You are buying the cultural signifier of functional wellness, not the functional wellness itself.
Better alternatives
If ashwagandha is clinically indicated — HPA axis support, stress adaptation, sleep — use KSM-66 or Sensoril at 300–600mg from a quality supplement brand. If lion's mane is indicated — cognitive support, neuroplasticity — use a standardised extract at therapeutic dose. Make your own oat milk latte. The ritual of the drink is not without value — but it can be separated from the expectation of clinical effect.
Verdict:Skip for clinical effect — sub-therapeutic doses of unspecified extracts; enjoy as a nice drink without expecting biochemical benefit
60–100ml concentrated shots containing combinations of ginger, turmeric, lemon, black pepper, vitamin C, elderberry, echinacea, and zinc. Marketed for immune support, typically consumed daily or at the onset of illness. The most honest product category in this list — several of the ingredients are genuinely bioactive and the format is at least attempting to deliver concentrated amounts.
The clinical limitations
Ginger has genuine anti-inflammatory and anti-nausea activity — and concentrated shots actually provide a meaningful ginger dose. Turmeric/curcumin is more complex: curcumin has very poor bioavailability without black pepper (piperine) or fat, which is why the black pepper in immunity shots is clinically relevant rather than decorative. The curcumin content of a shot is modest compared to therapeutic curcumin supplements with phospholipid complexes, but it's more than nothing. Vitamin C at 100–200mg per shot is real but not the 1–3g range where immune-supportive effects are more robustly demonstrated. Zinc at 5–10mg approaches a useful daily dose. The sugar content of many shots — from the fruit juice base — is worth considering for daily use. £2–4 per shot for what is essentially a concentrated fruit, vegetable, and spice juice.
Honest assessment
The better immunity shots (Plenish, Turmeric Co) are the most defensible products in this post. They're not delivering clinical supplement doses but they are delivering concentrated whole-food bioactives that have genuine biological activity. If you enjoy them and can afford them, they're not a waste of money in the way CBD water is. For acute immune support at the onset of illness — high-dose vitamin C (3–5g), zinc (25mg), elderberry extract, and rest are significantly more potent and cost less.
Verdict:OK — most honest product category; sub-clinical but real whole-food bioactives; daily use cost vs benefit worth considering
The scorecard
Eight Products — Clinical Summary
Protein Water
SKIP
Real protein, wildly overpriced, sweetener concerns. Eat food instead.
CBD Water
AVOID
Sub-therapeutic dose, worst possible delivery route for CBD. Paying for association not effect.
Vitamin Water
AVOID
Sugar water with token vitamins. Owned by Coca-Cola. Drink water.
Collagen Drinks
DEPENDS
Ingredient has genuine evidence. Shots underdosed. Powder + vitamin C is the better format.
Kombucha
DEPENDS
Raw unpasteurised = genuine probiotic value. Supermarket pasteurised = overpriced fizzy tea.
Probiotic Shots (Yakult etc)
SKIP
Single strain, sugar vehicle, specific evidence exists but better options available.
Adaptogen Lattes
SKIP
Unspecified extracts at one-tenth of clinical doses. Enjoy as a drink. Don't expect biochemistry.
Immunity Shots
OK
Most honest category. Real whole-food bioactives at modest but real doses. Expensive for what they are.
Why this matters
The supermarket health aisle exists because there is genuine and growing consumer demand for products that support health beyond basic nutrition. That demand is legitimate — the modern diet is increasingly inadequate, the population is increasingly unwell, and people are correctly intuiting that food and what they consume matters to their health in ways that mainstream medicine often doesn't address.
The problem is that the demand has been met by a marketing industry rather than a clinical one. The result is products designed to look like functional health rather than deliver functional health — that use the visual vocabulary of clinical nutrition (clean labels, green packaging, scientific-sounding ingredient names, percentage NRV claims) without the substance.
Spending £3 on a protein water that could be replaced by a chicken breast costing £1.50 is a minor financial inefficiency. Spending £30 a month on adaptogen lattes at sub-clinical doses while assuming you've addressed your HPA axis dysregulation is clinically meaningful — because it may substitute for the actual investigation and intervention that would help.
The supermarket health aisle sells the feeling of doing something about your health. Sometimes that feeling is worth something. But it's worth considerably less than actually doing something about your health — which requires knowing what's wrong first.
The DH Clinical Concierge can now audit specific supplements and products — paste the ingredient list and get an honest clinical assessment of dose adequacy, ingredient forms, and whether it's worth your money. That's a more useful service than a shelf full of pretty bottles.
Want to know if what you're taking is actually working?
The DH Clinical Concierge can audit any supplement or health product — ingredients, dose, form, and clinical value. No appointment needed.
Talk to the Concierge
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