AriZona Blueberry White Tea: ‘100% Natural White Tea’

Cans of AriZona blueberry white tea claim that the product contains “100% natural white tea.”

This ambiguous phrasing left us wondering what is contained in this AriZona can. Does it mean that:

• The product contains natural white tea and nothing else?
• All of the ingredients in the product, including white tea, are natural?
• Only the white tea is 100% natural and the product contains other ingredients that aren’t natural?

Making matters more confusing, as a TINA.org reader pointed out, when you turn the can around, it prominently states that the product contains “5% juice.”

So the product contains “100% natural white tea” AND “5% juice”? The math just isn’t mathing.

The back of the can also lists the ingredients in the tea, many of which you may not expect to find in a product with “100% natural” slapped on the front of it. Here’s the full list:

Premium Brewed White Teas Using Filtered Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup (Glucose-Fructose Syrup), Pear Juice from Concentrate, Blueberry Juice from Concentrate, Honey, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Fruit & Vegetable Juice for Color, Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Vitamin E Acetate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Sodium Selenite.

Citric acid and ascorbic acid are both common chemical preservatives designed to extend the shelf life of products by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms like bacteria and mold. High fructose corn syrup is a processed sugar that isn’t recommended as part of a healthy diet.

Which leads us to an important point: Just because a product is marketed as “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean it is healthy for you. That’s because there is no legal or regulatory definition of “natural.”

The FDA says it considers the term “natural” to mean that “nothing artificial or synthetic … has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food.” But that leaves some wiggle room for marketers.

AriZona did not respond to TINA.org’s request for comment.

Find more of our coverage on natural claims.