When A Beverage Masquerading As Healthy Is Not

I like to think I know my health foods, and that previous work at Consumers Union on nutrition, and other research and writing I've done makes me a savvy, healthy consumer.

So shame on me.

Long story short:

I was on a flight recently, and when it came to ordering beverages, my wife ordered a Coke (I disdain them completely: too much sugar, and the truth is, I've only sipped them and have never drunk an entire Coke or even, say, an eighth of one. Ever) and I ordered what I thought was Apple Cranberry juice.

Sounded like the healthiest choice: All those good northern Wisconsin cranberries...

What I got was a Minute Maid (Coca Cola Co. product) "All Natural Cranberry Apple Cocktail."

D'oh!

Compared to my wife's 39-grams-of-sugar-Coke, mine had 59 grams of sugars.

Her Coke had 140 calories. My all-natural juice cocktail: 220.

Either I didn't hear the key word "cocktail" in the flight attendant's spiel, since I know what that means (forget the juice: sugary conglomeration coming your way), or she offered it as a juice along with orange, apple, and so forth.

Isn't it interesting in this junk-food, waistline-expanding culture we live in that an all-natural juice beverage - - that's what it says on the can - - manages to contain 50% more calories and sugars than a Coke?