The Nutritional Value In Crystal Light Packages

Crystal Light is a brand of powdered drink mix produced by the Kraft Foods company. You can choose from 13 available Crystal Light flavors, including an array of iced teas, lemonades and fruit beverages. Crystal Light lives up to its name, as a packet of the drink mix offers very little caloric or nutritional value. Like many sugar-free beverages, Crystal Light is flavored with aspartame, an amino acid that is about 200 times sweeter than sugar. Companies can use much less aspartame to maintain to obtain a similar level of sweetness as sugar, thereby reducing the product's calories.

Calories

Of the 13 flavors of Crystal Light, only the Iced Tea with Lemon, Iced Tea with Peach, Fruit Punch, White Grape, Raspberry Ice are available in on-the-go packages. All flavors of Crystal Light on-the-go packages contain 5 calories. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture, a moderately active adult over the age of 18 requires well over 2,000 calories a day. A packet of Crystal Light offers less than 1 percent of a typical adult's minimal caloric needs.

Carbohydrates

Just one of the five flavors of Crystal Light on-the-go packages contain any macronutrients, with the Raspberry Ice flavor providing about 0.75 g of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates generally need to comprise about 45 to 65 percent of the typical adult's caloric intake, says the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, so a 2,000-calorie diet would call for about 225 to 325 g of this nutrient each day. A packet of Crystal Light is, therefore, a fairly negligible source of this carbohydrates.

Sugar

The carbohydrates in a packet of Crystal Light Raspberry Ice come from its sugar content. A packet of Crystal Light contains 3 calories from sugar, or about 2 to 3 percent of the American Heart Association's recommended 150- and 100- calorie limit for this substance each day for men and women, respectively. While sugar can help you meet your carbohydrate needs, it has an adverse effect on the bloodstream and may induce diabetes and weight gain. You're better off consuming complex carbohydrates, such as legumes and whole wheat products.

Sodium

Like, carbohydrates and sugar, Crystal Light's Raspberry Ice is the only on-the-go package flavor that contains any vitamins or minerals. A package of Raspberry Ice offers 10 mg of sodium -- a mineral that helps maintain fluid balance and regulates functions of the central nervous system. Too much sodium can cause high blood pressure, however, and the USDA recommends adults consume less than 2,300 mg of this mineral a day. The modest amount of sodium in this flavor of Crystal Light is used as a preservative.