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 This is This Is Now a Thing, where we check out the science behind new health trends. 
 
 Courtesy of FATwater 
 
 The thing: A $3.95 bottle of water mixed with fat, a sweetener and some flavors. The new 20-calorie beverage, called FATwater, was developed by entrepreneur Dave Asprey, creator of the Bulletproof Coffee craze that still has people adding large amounts of butter and oil to their coffee in the hopes of losing weight. FATwater isn’t a weight-loss drink, per se (each bottle contains 2 grams of fat). Rather, the company bills its product as an alternative to sugary coconut waters and energy drinks. 
 
 Asprey says he uses a patented process to take purified water and mix in tiny droplets of “Bulletproof XCT Oil”: medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) derived from coconut oil. “The water looks kind of iridescent, pearlescent,” Asprey tells TIME. “It has these tiny, invisible droplets of fat that your body really, really likes.” FATwater can be bought bottled or in a concentrated gel that you mix with water yourself. 
 
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 The hype: Asprey says FATwater is more hydrating than plain water because the nanoparticles of fat “bring the water into the cells more effectively.” He adds: “Drink a glass of water, and some of it will absorb and some of it won’t. But when your body sees that fat, it says, ‘Oh, come on in, this is pure energy.’ It brings the water in with the fat.” 
 
 Plus, he says, “you get a little bump of energy.” 
 
 The bottle says this: “XCTs follow a special metabolic pathway to burn fat instead of storing it,” the label reads, while giving your body “the clean, high quality fuel it needs—and nothing else.” The bottle also includes this disclaimer, which is required by federal law: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.” 
 
 The research: It is true that medium chain triglycerides are digested differently than other fats, says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, assistant professor in the department of medicine at Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition and a researcher of MCTs. Instead of being stored into fatty tissue to be used for energy later, they’re typically just burned off. 
 
 But does that mean they give you energy? “It’s actually the opposite,” St-Onge says. “You don’t have the energy—you’re not storing it—so you’re burning it. It’s not useful energy.” 
 
 Where MCTs are useful, St-Onge says, is when you use them to replace another fat (cooking with a little coconut oil, for instance, instead of butter or olive oil). In one study by St-Onge lasting 16 weeks, people who consumed 18-24 daily grams of medium chain triglycerides lost more weight than people who ate the same amount of olive oil. 
 
 “The type of fat that’s used in FATwater increases overall thermogenesis, which is fat-burning in the body,” Asprey says. But St-Onge, who’s own research has shown that MCT oil does enhance diet-induced thermogenesis compared to longer-chain fats, is skeptical that 2 grams of MCT oil—the amount found in FATwater—would have any impact on fat burn. She used a minimum of 18 grams all the way up to 60 grams in her research. 
 
 And what about the notion that MCTs shuttle water more effectively into the body than water ever could alone? 
 
 We asked David Julian McClements, professor in the department of food science at University of Massachusetts Amherst, who says he makes his own fat-infused emulsions all the time for research. Adding drops of oil to water infused with supplements like beta carotene, he’s found, helps your body make use of those nutrients. But improved hydration is not one of the established benefits of MCT emulsions like these, McClements says. 
 
 When asked about it, Asprey says he’s aware of the lack of research. “We’re working on specific studies for these exact formulations,” he says. 
 
 The taste: When TIME’s health team tried the berry and lemon flavors of FATwater, which are sweetened with xylitol, no one could agree on what it tasted like. One reporter thought it tasted “like lotion”; another thought it tasted like the sweet innards of liquid-filled chewing gum; and another said it tasted like “sweetened room water”—a glass of water that’s been sitting out and collects dust or other particulates from the air. 
 
 Though you’re not supposed to be able to detect the fat, one writer said: “I feel like something’s coating my tongue in a not-pleasant way.” 
 
 The bottom line: Water hydrates the body just fine on its own, St-Onge says. “If you’re thirsty, drink water,” she says. “If you’re hungry, eat food.” 
 
 Read Next: Charcoal Juice Is Now A Thing ||||| Oil and water don’t mix — so why are there drops of fat in the newest bottle of H2O? 
 
 Because the Silicon Valley techie who mixed butter with coffee and created a diet he calls “Bulletproof” put them there. He thinks his new drink — yes, it’s called FATwater — is better than real water. 
 
 “My whole career in Silicon Valley has been about disruptive technology,” says Dave Asprey creator of FATwater and an early cloud computing pioneer. “This is a disruptive technology for beverages.” 
 
 This is the only kind of water you should drink, some experts say. (Jorg Greuel/Getty Images) 
 
 The secret ingredient in FATwater is teeny droplets of fat extracted from coconut oil in Asprey’s proprietary process. The oil helps the water do its job better because cells are more likely to take in H2O that has a tiny bit of fat in it, he says. 
 
 Meanwhile, the fats in the oil provide a temporary energy boost and does not get stored as body fat in the way sugar does, he adds. 
 
 Dave Asprey (Courtesy Bulletproof) 
 
 Besides, it’s only two grams of saturated fat — the equivalent of two squares of Chocolove dark. 
 
 “The oils enhance thermogenesis, which is a fancy word for ‘fat burning,’ ” says Asprey, 42. “They get burned as energy and have an appetite-suppression effect. It’s not like we put in sunflower oil or canola.” 
 
 For now, Asprey is selling FATwater only at his Bulletproof Coffee Shop in Santa Monica, Calif., and at an L.A. natural foods store. But he has plans to expand nationally. 
 
 Nutritionists say he shouldn’t rush — this oil is of the snake variety. 
 
 “It is just getting crazier and crazier,” says Rochelle Sirota, a dietitian and nutritionist. “What is the need? Coconut water can be very hydrating because of the electrolytes, but I do not get this whole thing.” 
 
 America’s lone water sommelier, Martin Riese, does not consider FATwater water. “It’s a ‘near water product,’” he sniffs. (© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters/REUTERS) 
 
 Nutritionists at Brown & Medina in Manhattan also questioned FATwater’s claims, saying in a statement that the small amount of fat diluted in the water “would most likely not have an impact on fat burn.” 
 
 There is “no research on the fat being more hydrating,” the statement continued. 
 
 The country’s sole water sommelier, Martin Riese, who offers 20 mineral and spring waters at Ray’s & Stark Bar in Los Angeles, was aware of FATwater — and doesn’t think much of it. 
 
 “Water should not have any calories and this has 20,” he says. “This, I say, is a ‘near water product.’ I believe water should come from nature and not a factory.” 
 
 Though Asprey is not the first to extract the oil, he is the first to mix it in water, patent and market it. 
 
 Research, smesearch, Asprey suggests. 
 
 He cites his creation of Bulletproof Coffee as evidence that conventional wisdom is wrong and that everything — even nature itself — can be improved upon. 
 
 “Biohacking is taking control of the environment around you so you have control of your biology,” he says. “So you are less stressed and recover better and are a nicer person. I am making it easier for people to make those little changes and feel good all the time.” 
 
 Sidebar: Fat Water in the Taste Kitchen 
 
 Tasters found FATwater lacking. 
 
 We sent a bottle of lemon and berry flavors of FATwater into the Daily News Taste Kitchen — and about the nicest thing anyone said is that FATwater is an acquired taste. 
 
 One reporter thought the berry tasted like “liquid soap,” while another thought the lemon was “like Crystal Light not fully diluted.” 
 
 Two testers physically shook with revulsion. But one took a deep sip, swallowed, and gave FATwater its highest praise: “You know what? It’s not that bad.”
– Remember that guy who started the Bulletproof Coffee fad, where people add butter and oil to their cups of joe in the hopes of losing weight? Well he's at it again, this time with what the Silicon Valley techie calls "a disruptive technology for beverages," reports the New York Daily News. It's called FATwater, and creator Dave Asprey swears it's better than real water because it is infused with tiny droplets of fat extracted from coconut oil (he's patented this) that improve both hydration and fat burning. The cloud computing pioneer calls it "biohacking," or "taking control of the environment around you so you have control of your biology," he says. "You are less stressed and recover better and are a nicer person. I am making it easier for people to make those little changes and feel good all the time." Not so fast, say the experts. "It is just getting crazier and crazier," one nutritionist says. "If you’re thirsty, drink water; if you’re hungry, eat food," Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge, who researches medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) at Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition, tells Time. Asprey himself concedes that there isn't much research in this area, but he says he's got plenty of anecdotal evidence that because MCTs are digested differently than other fats, you do "get a little bump of energy." But St-Onge says he's actually got it backward because they're just burned off. "It's not useful energy." She adds that the 2 grams of fat in a bottle isn't close to enough to improve fat-burning. Meanwhile taste testers at both the Daily News and Time were unimpressed, describing the water as tasting like "lotion," "sweetened room water" that's gotten dusty from sitting around, and "liquid soap." FATwater is currently being sold in Santa Monica and Los Angeles. (Even asparagus water was a thing this summer.)