What is in Kool-Aid Jammers? Ingredients and Review

May 28, 2017   6 Comments

What is in Kool-Aid Jammers? It might surprise you that Kool-Aid has cut sugar in half.

The reason why I stopped to take a look at these in the supermarket is that upper left corner – 50% less sugar!!

I spend a lot of time evaluating different juices (see Naked Juice and Is Orange Juice Healthy?) and I get a thrill when I believe a company has improved their offering.

Kool-Aid was my favorite drink as a child. My mom would buy it and I would “make” it in the pitcher. It was basically sugar colored water and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Here are the ingredients in Kool-Aid Jammers Tropical Punch:

As you can see, they use high fructose corn syrup (no surprise there). What did shock me was the sucralose. Is this simply like giving Diet Coke to kids?

This drink tastes so sweet. Not only that but there is an artificial color. When you drink it through a straw, you can’t even see the drink so I am not sure why that is necessary.

My kids poured it out and decided it looked like Windex. They are excited about April Fools day next year so they can prank their friends.

The package is super cute and inviting. I love how there are drawings of fruit but there isn't any fruit juice in the product. 😠 I was hoping, of course, that Kool-Aid simply cut the sugar in half and gave kids a lighter option.

Another company makes this product – Juicy Juice:

It also advertises 50% less sugar than the leading juice but it does it in a different way.

Here are the Juicy Juice ingredients:

water, apple juice from concentrate, pear juice from concentrate, vitamin C, citric acid, natural flavors, pineapple juice from concentrate

Concentrated juice is basically sugar but this drink is juice cut with water.

It is so simple! All you have to do is add water, cut the juice, lower your costs and parents will love it.

But what about kids?

My children took one look at the Juicy Juice packaging and went for the Kool-Aid (of course). After tasting the Kool-Aid, my daughter said, “This tastes like chemicals.”

She tried the Juicy Juice and liked it. She pronounced the packaging “boring” but the juice “good”.

Why can’t we have something that looks fun has less sugar? Why does the healthier stuff have to look so dull? oh well.

These two packages cost almost the exact same amount. Next time go for the Juicy Juice.

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