--- title: Whole Foods Los Angeles: Store Offers Expensive Asparagus Water description: The store said it was a mistake canonical: https://time.com/3985325/whole-foods-asparagus-water/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-05T12:27:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:16.738Z og:title: Whole Foods Los Angeles: Store Offers Expensive Asparagus Water og:description: The store said it was a mistake og:url: https://time.com/3985325/whole-foods-asparagus-water/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Whole Foods Los Angeles: Store Offers Expensive Asparagus Water twitter:description: The store said it was a mistake twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Whole Foods Put 3 Sticks of Asparagus in a Jar of Water and Sold it for $6 > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Should I Drink Green Juice? [Watch (HLS stream): Should I Drink Green Juice?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J0d2ag3D.m3u8) (1:36)  _Published 2015-04-23. Green juice can cost you $10 a bottle. But is it a trend worth buying into? All five of our experts gave green juice the go-ahead_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 5, 2015 12:27 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 5, 2015 12:27 PM UTC Whole Foods has removed $6 asparagus water from the shelves of one store in Los Angeles saying that it had been offered mistakenly, a spokesperson for the grocer told [CBS News](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/whole-foods-removes-6-asparagus-water-from-store-shelves/). The product, which consisted of three asparagus stalks sitting in a bottle of water, was discovered by a Los Angeles resident who posted a [photo on Instagram](https://instagram.com/p/57PD0DBEP6/) ridiculing the concept. The photo led to widespread criticism that the upscale grocer was ripping off customers with an over-priced and frivolous product. When questioned by CBS News, Whole Foods said the offering was a mistake and had only been “carried briefly” at one location. “We actually don’t sell asparagus water in our stores,” Whole Foods Market spokesperson Liz Burkhart told CBS. “We looked into the item as soon as it was brought to our attention.” \[[_CBS_](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/whole-foods-removes-6-asparagus-water-from-store-shelves/)\] ## Transcript Green juice can cost you $ 10 a bottle, but is it a trend worth really buying into? Five out of five of our experts give green juice the go ahead. The store bought kind has about 36 % of your daily recommended potassium, 20 % of your daily vitamin A 12 grams of natural sugar and four grams of protein. If you juice your own glass you'll likely get even more vitamins. Barry Popkin says that veggie juice is really healthy for you and a lot better for you than fruity concoctions like smoothies. A big concern about juicing is that it gets rid of most of the fiber which lets sugar rush into your bloodstream faster. But Popkin says that because vegetables are so low in sugar, that's not a big issue. Lydia Pisano has researched green leafy vegetables. And finds that they're linked to a lower risk of developing diabetes. Green juice is fine as long as part of your overall well balanced diet. But don't go on an all green juice Cleanse. That's what we have our kidneys and livers for, says Kristi King. Mary Jo Kasten warns that you should be careful with green juice if you have a kidney. Foods like spinach are a rich source of oxalate, which can contribute to kidney stones, but for most people, juicing is just fine. Most of us, of course, aren't anywhere close to overdosing on vegetables. And only 10 % of what we do get down is dark green. It's better to eat your vegetables rather than drink them, says David Katz, but if green juice is what it takes to get your veggie fix, then bottoms up. 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