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Los Angeles-based Y Water, a $1 million start-up company, is set to introduce an eponymous low sugar vitamin infused flavoured water in early 2008. The quirky product, aimed at children, comes in remarkable packaging created by Yves Béhar of San Francisco design agency Fuseproject. The Y-shaped 9oz bottle can also be used as a toy and is intended to make drinking water more fun for kids.

The certified organic drink will be available in four varieties, each with a flavour mix composed of ingredients that target different parts of the body: bones, muscles, the brain, and the immune system. For example, Y Bone water has a shot of calcium and vitamins mixed with organic black carrot juice, banana, strawberry and a touch of spearmint oil. Y Brain water contains zinc, rosemary, lemon and caramel.

Y Water founder Thomas Arndt explained that once a child finishes the bottle, special connectors on the pack allow Y Water bottles to stick together in Lego-like constructions. “It's exotic and it's unique," he said. "It enriches the fantasy life of kids. They start guessing what’s in it.”

Clearly, targeting kids is part of a broader strategy by the beverage industry to tailor drinks to niche consumer segments. “What we are seeing are finely targeted products for a particular need or demographic, and that includes kids, which is an underserved category,” noted one analyst.

Arndt, who has previously worked for Red Bull and Carpe Diem, said he started thinking about a children’s beverage two years ago when he couldn’t find anything in Los Angeles supermarkets that he wanted his own kids to drink. His idea was to create a low calorie, organic beverage that would be a thirst quencher, yet also have health benefits or functionality all in a kid-friendly package. “When it comes to drinks, kids aren’t taken seriously,” he concluded.

Béhar, who is also an investor in the project, explains that the design is about the process of turning drink into a game, and a disposable product into a reusable one. His team devised Y Water’s intertwined name and bottle based on the concept of a stable, symmetrical bottle that incorporates a sense of play and learning.

Bottle labels, designed by ad agency Kastner & Partner in Los Angeles, include whimsical, childlike drawings and irreverent tag lines. For Y Bone water, there's a skeleton and the line, “because you don’t want your skeleton walking out on you". Y Muscle water has an octopus in high boots and encourages kids to drink it, “because you never know who’s going to challenge you to a wrestling match".

However, Y Water also contains sugar cane juice, and some food industry nutritionists are sceptical about its overall health benefits. Other critics have pointed out that throwing in a little zinc won’t make a difference unless a child is zinc deficient, in which case dedicated pharmaceutical supplements would be preferred.

Arndt argues that Y Water is meant to be a part of healthy, balanced daily nutrition, not a replacement. He believes the benefits of the added vitamins and minerals in drinks are well documented. As for sugar, Arndt is adamant: “I’d rather give kids a tolerable level of sweetness as an incentive to substitute soft drinks with water, rather than offer them only plain water that they don’t like.”

Drinks industry analysts believe Y Water has potential because it addresses issues such as health and the environment. Ecologically conscious parents may be more comfortable with buying a product packaged in a plastic bottle that's intended to be reused within the home, but questions are unanswered as to whether the product is fully recyclable if thrown away.

Y Water has already found a listing for the children’s functional water range at Whole Food Markets, but each 9oz bottle will cost a hefty $1.69 when it goes on sale, a price that observers suggest will simply scare customers away from such an innovative concept.