Does Arizona iced or green tea count?

@donkeyjote: Green tea, yes. I'm not exactly sure of Arizona's ingredients, however.

I'm wondering about tea... Sure all (real) tea is healthy for you, but not all teas are created equal. I wonder what the best kind of tea is or if, let's say, green tea is better than earl gray. Any ideas?

@Jay Slatkin: I meant Arizon Green Tea (With Ginseng, natch) :P

@Phas3Sh1ft: Green tea tastes good, earl gray gives you the shits, and black tea tastes like ashfault.

@Phas3Sh1ft: If Long Island Iced Tea counts, then I'm the healthiest guy here.

There is research to support the myth that cranberry juice can help prevent urinary tract infections. It is thought to help prevent bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall.

If there is research to support this, why call it a myth?

I don't know about anyone else, but if I have a cup of hot tea, within 10 minutes NOBODY would want to smell my breath. Gives me cotton-mouth like you wouldn't believe.

@weakdome: You need to stop smoking giant doobies before drinking your tea.

;)

I grew up in a Baptist church so 2 and 3 are the same thing to me.

Or there's always water-- I know, what a concept. It goes against the purpose of the article, but it really is way healthier (and less weight gain inducing) to get your antioxidants, etc from actual fruit and just drink water than it is to drink juice.

Going just based on antioxidants is a bad idea, because as they mentioned, sugar content is also a factor. Also artificial sweeteners.

As a confirmed coffee addict, I would also like to put forth coffee as possessing quite a few benefits as well, antioxidant content, reduced risk of liver disease, and others I don't recall. YMMV of course. Plus it's tasty and noncaloric.

I believe pomegranate juice to be somewhat faddishly overpriced right now, though. I think the also-mentioned grape, cranberry, and blueberry juices have similar or higher levels of proven benefits, and don't cost like $8 for a bottle.

Good list, guys! Much better results than that one on healthiest supermarket foods.

@donkeyjote: Arizona green tea contains massive amounts of high fructose corn syrup, I believe. Pretty sure this mitigates any health benefits you might get from the green tea.

If you want healthy iced tea, you pretty much need to brew your own or pay for the 'spensive type like Honest Tea.

@The Rude Bellman: My Catholic boyfriend was shocked to hear we don't actually drink wine.

@donkeyjote: I'm guessing any kind of tea for purchase has an unreasonable amount of sugar in it (she says as she drinks her sweet tea from McDonald's).

Does anyone do seltzer?
My girlfriend and I are addicted to the stuff, as is my boss.

It is fizzy and cleans your palette, but it contains zero calories and a little bit of salt.
Also, a quart of seltzer costs less than a small bottle of water.

All tea is healthy for you, though some variants have more antioxidants than others (with black being the lowest due to the way it is processed). That being said, you need to watch what kind of iced tea you get from the stores, they are not equal. You do not want things made from tea extracts or powders, and most of them that are not found in the organic isle will be filled with nasty HFCS. Honest, Inkos, Steaz (soda with green tea as its base) are all very good. With that said, people who love the tea sweet may not enjoy most of them and might want to look for something like Lipton Pure Leaf that is made with actual tea and cane sugar.

@opsomath: "'spensive type like Honest Tea."
Honest Tea is expensive where you live? It's not really cheap, but the price is usually comparative, or even a little less, then a bottle of Arizona tea.

My best source for healthy cheap tea-on-the-go is a grocery store generic. A lot of grocery stores have healthy-type organic store brands now, and they usually sell their fancy teas for a dollar a bottle or a little less.

More propaganda from the Pomegranate growers. Seriously, who knew what the hell a Pomegranate was 10 years ago? Now everything comes in Pomegranate flavor.

There's not a lot of evidence to support the idea that drinks high in anti-oxidants do much of anything for you. And as for fruit drinks, you're much better off eating the whole fruit as opposed to drinking the juice. Much of the health benefits are being pushed by manufacturers who profit from the extreme mark up in pricing that juice enjoys over whole fruit.

@MrEvil: Pomagranitee martiti's for everyone!

Looks like "Big Pom" has gotten to me, too!

Protip: Never drink "straight" Pomagranite juice, it's like drinking the tartest cranberry juice you can find, letting it sit in a celler for a year, pouring a ton of siugar in it and drinking it.

@Lars: I got a Vitamix expressly for this. Throw a handfull of blueberrys, pitted cherries, mango and whatever, with a big of yogurt and blend away.

"According to CBS" LOL... yeah, I'm sure they received no monetary compensation for saying that. The fact that pomegranate companies are making a huge push and advertising like crazy on their networks had nothing to do with the decision. And thats assuming it wasn't an outright advertorial to begin with.

Ever notice that 20/20, Dateline and smaller segments like 7 On Your Side or Fox 5 Problem Solvers are more than willing to do pieces on small business that never advertise with them? When was the last time 20/20 or Dateline did a piece on Ford, GM or the major american companies that majorly profit from Burma? Never?!?! and I'm sure that has nothing to do with the fact that they are their largest advertisers, right?

If you ever trust a major broadcast news program then you're an idiot that will believe anything.

@me and the sysop: EWWW. Mcdonalds sweet tea is straight garbage. Get yo self to a White Castle, stat!

You know, even though everyone and their mother is pushing pomegranate juice at us and I know it's just a marketing tactic (mark my words, the Açaí berries are next!) I freaking love that stuff. I wish that I could find the actual fruit in the stores around here. Only ever eaten a pomegranate once, but it was mucho delicious.

Never mind blueberry juice. This time of year in the northern hemisphere, eat FRESH BLUEBERRIES by the carton-full. I do! Yum.

@libbybee:
I have to admit, I don't have the patience to deal with all those little blasted seeds in a whole pomegranate. But the juice is pure fruity goodness!

@opsomath: 1) Natural sugar content may be a factor, but how are artificial sweeteners? None of the items in the list need artificial sweetening. Tea is the only thing that needs any, and a wee little bit of plain sugar or honey goes a long way (1tsp/cup or less).

2) Cranberry and blueberry juices were only $1 less than pomegranate yesterday, when I was shopping. $8 v. $7 for the Knudsen. Yes, pomegranate is expensive, but everything else is, too. Of course, cranberry really begs to be part of a mix, where blueberry and pomegranate are fine by themselves. Oddly, if any place would carry it, there is a juice company in my state selling pomegranate juice, non-filtered, cheaper than the natural brands. Sadly, it's not cheaper when it takes a 50 mile trip to find some (especially since I can get their other juices around town).

3) hunt local Asian markets and health food stores for good loose leaf tea. Get a spice ball, some tea, and learn to brew it. It is expensive by weight, but not by amount of tea you get from it.

Ok, so where is the evidence that anti-oxidants do anything for you?

I just hate it when marketing hype is just assumed to be true. Of course, if there are a wealth of double-blind studies that prove anti-oxidants are beneficial, then please correct me.

V8 has come out with their "Fusion" drinks. One serving of fruit and veggies in one 8 ounce glass.

I've been drinking it for the last couple weeks. It's pretty good, and it's loaded with anti-oxidants too.

[www.v8juice.com]

They run about $3.82 a gallon at the stores here; I noticed too, that was WIC approved, so if you're on Food Stamps, they smile upon it. So our Government thinks it's good for you too...

what about beer ?

@Phas3Sh1ft: They have different amounts/kinds of antioxidants, but they're all good for you ... and they're all zero-calorie until you start adding sweetener. So just find some teas you like without sweetener and call it a day. :D

(We have a friend who's trying to lose weight, but because coffee is calorie free, it doesn't count -- and he routinely adds FIVE TEASPOONS sugar to a single cup of coffee. Might as well just drink soda, geez!)

Apple Juice? I hate that stuff. It gives me nasty runs.

@bmwloco: So are White Castle Hamburgers that are frozen. Don't need to go braggin' aboot it.

I'll just stick with my veggies and fruits.

I wonder why unsweetened grapefruit juice didn't make the list?

V8!!

Although, it has quite a lot of sodium.

@ratnerstar: Could be complete BS, but my friend was told that cranberry juice (that she drank all the time) actually contributed to her kidney stones and what not...

The list kind of seems to be some shaky science, that or they had about five items in mind and came up with another five. It doesn't even say what the health benefits of apple juice are (I've always thought of it as one of the lesser beneficial juices in my novice way), ditto acui juice (although it was nice of them to point out that they had to deforest the Amazon to get it, therefore it must be good!). On top of that, as a tea drinker, it doesn't even mention which types of teas are good for you. Green tea? Black tea? Herbal tea? Peppermint chai? Arizona ubersweet?

Writer: "Editor, we're making a top 10 list of healthy drinks. We're up to 8."
Editor: "What about tea? That's supposed to be good for you."
Writer: "Ooh, good one!"
Editor: "Well, one of our sponsors this month is Mott's, how about apple juice?"
Writer: "I can work with it."

Most apple juice is completely useless since it's been pasteurized and has no vitamins in it anymore (unless they've been added back in). At that point, it's brown Kool-aid.

Yeah, that pomegranate thing really worked out well for Persephone.

DON'T BE FOOLED, PEOPLE!

@weakdome: Agreed. Only happens when I drink hot tea though. I wonder if there is any validity behind that?

what about water?

oh and if you are worried about heart disease and certain cancers, i highly doubt juice is going to fix ya. if you don't want these things prevention is key. you can avoid so many problems with diet and lifestyle cahnges and if you want drink some juice

A glass/bottle of beer actually has many of the same health benefits as a glass of red wine - including the stress relief, reduction in blood pressure and polyphenols - and, if you're drinking an unfiltered beer, the residual yeast provides a great deal of B vitamins as well. Many stouts have a surprisingly low glycemic index as well, so if carbohydrate consumption is an issue, beers such as Guinness are actually better for you than many "lighter" beers.

Of course, this all comes with the caveat that drinking more than one or two beers per day comes with its own negative health effects.

The only people helped by pomegranate juice are the makers of the stuff.
Have you seen how much that stuff costs?

It's this year's health scam.

Water! Water!!

@Ubik2501: Beer is higher in carbs and calories than wine, though.

You'll gain weight faster with beer.

The best kind of pomegranete and cranberry juice is from Trader Joes, they are 100% juice with no sugar added. The cranberry one will kick your ass if you don't put sugar in it. But great for a UTI

@MrEvil: I'm pretty sure the pomegranate has been around for over 2000 years.

Referenced in Song of Solomon:
[www.biblegateway.com]

No mention of milk? WTF?

How did V8 not make the list? I wonder if its because of the sodium content, but let me tell you I drink the stuff every morning. It is probably one of the better habits I have acquired in my 27 years on earth.

Water is the best beverage. If you can purify it thru triple osmosis that is water at it's best.

If you want to drink juice then make your own. The juice you buy in stores is dead juice. It has no vitamins or life left.
Store bought apple juice is just brown apple tasting liquid with a small percentage of apple juice and the rest is high fructose corn syrup and chemicals. They have to add back any vitamins to store processed juice as it is destroyed by light, air, and pasturization.

Try this - juice a few apples or oranges and then taste the store juice version. One is real juice and the other is what the US food machine passes off as juice with their special added chemicals. Real juice is amazing and actually does contain beneficial anti-oxidants and vitamins.

I understand people need to grab something quickly to drink at a store or from a vending machine but don't believe you are actually getting real juice from anything that is mass produced. Read the labels.

Ah, but the question is: Does pomegranate juice taste good?