I tend to be real health-nut and I pride myself on eating healthy and always paying attention to what I am putting into my body. Before buying any new snacks or drinks, I make sure to look at the label to ensure that I am not consuming any kind of preservatives or diet sweeteners.

Unfortunately, this proves difficult in one circumstance for me: staying hydrated. I HATE plain water and really struggle to stay away from flavored drinks. The problem is, when you look at the ingredients for most flavored water brands, they definitely don't meet high health standards. That's why my new favorite drink right now is Hint, a naturally flavored water that comes in 16 delicious combinations, plus sparkling and caffeinated options. Hint helps me keep me hydrated and healthy while giving my taste buds a treat. It's SO MUCH BETTER than just water.

Luckily, Hint's ingredient list is always simple. Take my personal favorite blackberry flavor: purified water, blackberry and other natural ingredients from non-GMO plants. That's it. And when it comes to nutrition labels, Hint has zeros all the way down the list -- no calories, no sodium, no anything! Hint never uses diet sweeteners, preservatives, dyes or GMOs.

Here's how Hint compares to the top three zero-calorie flavored water competitors (and sparkling!). How does your go-to compare? (Psst, we left the worst for last so make sure to check out Bai bubbly at the bottom for a carbohydrate surprise!)

Vitamin Water Zero

OK, if you're already on the zero calorie flavored water train, then you probably know about Vitamin Water Zero. If you think all flavored waters are made the same, just take a look at that long list of ingredients on the Vitamin Water Zero bottle. One of the many synthetic ingredients you can't pronounce is the sugar alcohol erythritol, which is often made from GMO corn and has been linked to weight gain and stomach bacteria issues [1]. That's not natural. Plus Hint comes in more sophisticated flavors like blood orange.

Dasani Flavored Water

Dasani also makes a zero calorie flavored water with just four flavor options. Dasani's water contains a lot of the big-name diet sweeteners health conscious people have avoided for a while now, like aspartame. But the biggest differences? One of those ingredients is causing a bottle of Dasani flavored water to have a whopping 70mg of sodium! That's almost twice the sodium in a can of Coke! Sodium makes you bloat, so watch out. Hint on the other hand comes in way more flavor options and has 0mg of sodium (which, duh! It's water).

Bai Bubbles

Bai is one of the most popular flavored sparkling waters to rival Hint's line of bubbly beverages, which boast simple ingredients and zeros all the way down their nutrition list, just like their still counterparts. Bai on the other hand is a double offender: erythritol, just like Vitamin Water, AND enough carbohydrates that a single bottle of Bai would kick you out of a low carb diet.

Hint is a great way to get all the health benefits of water, including accelerated weight loss and improved cognitive function, with a kick of flavor. They even have a subscriptions service you can use to make sure you never run out, and cut down on trips to the grocery store! If you're already a flavored water fan, make sure to check out the label of your go-to brand and see if it has any of the same hidden health risks as the competitors above.

UPDATE 04/22/19: The folks at Hint are offering a special promotion to our readers! Follow this link to get 35% off PLUS free shipping!

[ 1] The Healthy Home Economist