Diet Tonic Water vs. Regular Tonic Water

Slightly bitter and fizzy, tonic water is a carbonated beverage that's often mixed with vodka or gin and is sometimes even consumed on its own. Like most other fizzy drinks, tonic water is available in regular and diet varieties. Regular tonic water contains sugar, while diet tonic water products utilize a range of artificial and natural sweeteners, depending on the brand.

Despite its name, tonic water isn't just water. Tonic water is made up ofthree main components: carbonated water, some type of sweetener and quinine. Tonic water's uniquebitterness comes from quinine, which is derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. Quinine washistorically used to prevent malaria. Today, it's more commonly used as an ingredient in soft drinks andother beverages.

因为奎宁水包含几个成分,其他e are few nutritional benefits to drinking it. This beverage essentially has no nutrients. It has only some trace amounts ofsodium, zinc and copper. Although it is primarily carbonated water, there are32.2 carbs in tonic water(or 11 percent of the daily value you should consume each day) and 124 calories in 12 fluid ounces.

The carbohydrates in tonic water essentially all come from its sugar content. According to theUSDA Branded Food Products Database, the sweetener that's used in tonic water is usually high-fructose corn syrup, which is produced from corn starch. This means that tonic water is full of empty carbohydrates and calories.

The calories and sugar content of tonic water are comparable to those contained in most other sodas. In comparison, in a 12-ounce serving:

• Sprite has 37.4 gramsof carbohydrates (12 percent of your daily value) and 148 calories.
  
• Acola drink(like Coke or Pepsi) has 38.3 grams of carbohydrates (13 percent of your daily value) and 155 calories.
  

Accordingly, drinking tonic water is basically like drinking any other soft drink and is certainly not comparable to drinking plain water. According to theHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, drinks that contain more than 12 grams of sugar in a 12-ounce serving, like these, should be consumed infrequently.

2015年的一项研究American Journal of Clinical Nutritionfound a link between consumption of high-fructose corn syrup, the sweetener used in many tonic waters, and a greater risk of heart disease. Drinking beverages with this ingredient may also be related to health problems such as increased inflammation,arthritisandchronic bronchitis.

如果你喜欢的味道of tonic water but want to avoid the empty calories and carbohydrates, you can always try diet tonic water or other carbonated water products, which range from sparkling mineral waters toseltzers. You can also try drinking sparklingwater with lemonor even bitters, which are often added to tonic water, in order to mimic its signature bitter taste.

Read more:12 Ways to Make Water Taste (Much) Better

Instead of sugar, diet drinks use a range of alternative sweeteners that can come from either natural or artificially produced sources. The pros and cons of drinkingdiet tonic waterare based on the type of sweetener used in the beverage.

Many major companies, like the Coca-Cola company, often sweeten their diet soft drinks with artificial sweeteners. For instance, Coca-Cola's diet tonic water,Schweppes Slimline Tonic Water, has aspartame. Canada Dry's diet tonic water, however, uses a different artificial sweetenercalled saccharin.Aspartame and saccharin are products that are tied to ahistory of controversy.

Many artificial sweeteners have been thought to be bad for your health and to even potentiallycause cancer. Today, the FDA considers these sweeteners to be safe, but research continues to question whetherconsuming artificial sweetenersis good for your health. Fortunately, some diet tonic waters use natural alternatives that lack these negative side effects.

Read more:Negative Effects of Artificial Sweeteners

Stevia is a natural herb from South America that has been used as an alternative sweetenersince the 1970s. Since 2007, a company called Zevia has used stevia to create sugar-free soft drinks. This includes a zero-calorie, zero-sugar tonic water calledZevia Mixer tonic water.

Stevia is unique because it has compounds that are50 to 400 timessweeter than sugar. Like artificial sweeteners, stevia is a zero-calorie sweetener, but unlike them, it has various health benefits.Stevia acts as an antioxidantthat can help you lose weight, support your immune system and reduce inflammation and blood sugar.

The only downside to stevia is a slightly bitter flavor that makes it taste distinctly different from sugar and other sweeteners. Due to its somewhatbitter aftertaste, stevia is not always considered to be the most desirable alternative sweetener. However, while this aftertaste might be undesirable in other beverages, it's perfect for tonic water as it works well with quinine's bitter flavor.

Read more:The Ultimate Guide to Natural Sweeteners

Whether it's regular tonic water or diet, it typically contains quinine. Quinine has been used to help treat or prevent malaria since theearly 17th century. Other treatments for this disease are now available, but quinine is still commonly used to treat malaria inmany African countries.

The quinine in beverages like tonic water is used as a flavoring and is limited by the FDA to83 parts per million. This amount is well below the amount required for use in thetreatment of malaria(tablets are sold in500- to 1,000-milligramdoses). This means that while quinine can help combat malaria, tonic water can't be used as a replacement for this or any other medical treatments.

Because the levels of quinine in tonic water are so low, it'sunlikely to cause problemsas long as it's consumed in moderation. However, you should avoid drinking tonic water if youalready take quinine in other forms, as too much can cause gastrointestinal and cardiovascular problems.