Vita Coco Kids coconut water drinks review

Vita Coco Kids recently got in touch to ask us if we'd like to try out some of their drinks. They also wanted to reveal the results of their new research that shows that, following all the recent news focusing on the amount of sugar children have in their daily diet, parents admit to feeling confused and wanting clearer guidelines on what is an acceptable level of sugar in children's drinks. According to their findings :

60% of parents are left unsure of what is an acceptable level of sugar when it comes to drinks

Almost 80% want clearer, more realistic guidelines to help them

More than 70% of parents now see drinks such as smoothies or juices as a treat rather than a daily drink, with many saying they only give their children these types of drinks on holidays, weekends and at birthday parties

In response to the research, Vita Coco Kids have been working with nutritionist Amanda Hamilton to launch The Sugar Maze - a simple set of guidelines to help parents make an easy and informed decision on what children should drink and what is deemed a treat.

As well as providing top tips to help overhaul your kids' liquid intake, the Sugar Maze gives the low down on the good, the bad and the ugly of kids' drinks. Unsurprisingly, the Every Day Every Which Way top level features good old-fashioned water, but you could try jazzing it up with sugar-free fruit juice or squash, slices of fruit or even herbs. The good, healthy hydration category features milk and anything with less than 5% sugar (water, milk, unsweetened fruit or vegetable juices and milk based drinks) making it school compliant. The OK, rethink your drink category contains flavoured milk, fizzy drinks, fruit juices, smoothies and fresh vegetable juice, which need to be monitored because they can contain lots of hidden sugar. Finally, the Stop ! Never Ever level, represented as the dregs of the glass, are high caffeine drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and fruit juice drinks.

So where do you think Vita Coco Kids comes in? Well, we were impressed to learn that they are school compliant, making them perfect for lunchboxes, and contain around 50% less sugar and calories than other leading UK chilled kids juices and smoothies. Vita Coco Kids was created to give children a great tasting, lower sugar drink alternative with the added benefits of hydrating coconut water. The coconut water comes from young green coconuts (never from concentrate) and is blended with natural fruit flavourings and water. It also contains naturally occurring potassium to help keep little monkeys energised and hydrated ! A 180ml serving contains 9g of sugar and 40 calories.

Vita Coco Kids comes in two fruity flavours, classic Apple & Blackcurrant and tropical Mango & Pineapple, and we've been trying them both out. The verdict was that they are both delicious, although all three of the Madhouse Kids preferred the mango and pineapple ones.

They taste just as sweet and fruity as their sugar-packed rivals so I love the fact that they are an equally appealing, healthier option. Our only slight niggle is that it's very fiddly to get the straw into the hole, particularly for the younger monkeys.

Pierre is under the weather at the moment and, as he's got a high temperature, I've been trying to keep his fluids up. While he's been turning his nose up at water, squash or fruit juice, the Vita Coco Kids pouches seem to be hitting the spot every time !

They are quite pricey - at £2.99 for 4 x 180ml, they are a lot more expensive than many other kids' drinks on the market, but I would be prepared to pay a bit more for a healthier option. You can also get a £1 off voucher on their Facebook page at the moment (14,000 coupons available on first come first served basis so don't hang about !)

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £2.99 for 4 x 180ml

for more information : www.vitacocokids.com/uk

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.