Oils and flavored waters

[heatherp]

This is a random question.....I found these and am assuming they are unsafe as they seem to be natural flavors
 lorannoils.com/product-education/about-our-flavors
which also makes me wonder about flavored waters....metromint and the like....that some drink and find to be safe.  What makes those safe vs something like the Lorann oils? Those also seem to be natural type flavors or "essence" from what I have seen in our stores. 

Thanks for your insight!

[charlie]

The catch is usually the base substance to the flavouring, I see these ones are in sugar alcohols therefore unsafe, you would have to check ingredients. Fructose is water soluble so any flavouring will absorb the fructose if water based too, however most flavourings we are talking minute quantities so may be safe. I have found a peppermint essence in the UK that is not in an alcohol base and use that one. Also orange and lemon essences as only use a couple of drops for a recipe.

[colormist]

I used to love this strawberry water I found at the grocery. It was amazing and didn't have any fructose listed in the ingredients OR any ingredients that might be suspicious. The only two ingredients were water and essence of strawberry--which I presume was similar to an oil.

After my mother-in-law had purchased me a case of the water (and drinking a bottle a day), I noticed I was starting to feel ill. I was reluctant to believe it was the water, but eventually thinking about drinking the strawberry flavored water made me queasy.

There's probably not a lot of fructose, but enough to cause a reaction with regular repeat exposure (i.e. a case of water).

I would steer clear of any fruit-based oils.

Metromint it still delicious, though. I love their chocolate mint water. Peppermint and spearmint are also fantastic.