Orlando, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — On Average, one person drinks about 154 liters of soda per year in the United States, and one in five people report having at least one soda a day. Did you know that one soda a day can lead to a 67 percent increase in Type 2 diabetes risk? And while diet soda is better, one a week can lead to a 70 percent increased risk of diabetes. That’s why many people are switching to healthier options, like the many “gut-healthy” sodas appearing in the last few years. But are these sodas actually better for you?
These pro and prebiotic sodas market themselves as “gut-healthy” alternatives to normal soda. Probiotics are the “bugs” that live in your gut and keep it healthy by creating a barrier blocking out harmful bacteria. Prebiotics are the food for the probiotics.
“So, when you have the good bugs inoculated in the gut, if you’re not making sure that you’re getting the prebiotics to feed those bugs, then the good bugs can die off and can mess up your gut bacteria,’ said Megan Ware, RDN, Nutrition Awareness.
Originally seen on Shark Tank, Poppi gets its prebiotics from two grams of agave inulin, which a lawsuit last year said wasn’t enough to have real health benefits.
“Now that doesn’t mean it’s bad for you, but if you’re trying to do something good for your gut health, I wouldn’t first go for inulin as your thing that you’re looking for,” explained Ware.
Olipop has a long list of ingredients that make up its prebiotic benefits …
“They’re just deriving the fiber from the real foods. Now would I much rather you just eat an artichoke to get your fiber? Absolutely,” said Ware.
Culture Pop is a probiotic soda, which means it provides the gut-healthy bacteria instead of feeding it.
“There are certain strains that are good for vaginal health, certain strains that are good for digestive health and so getting just one of those strains isn’t really good enough,” said Ware.
Nutritionist Megan Ware recommends having a well-balanced diet to make sure you are getting a good amount of pro and prebiotics, and to treat these sodas as a supplement, not a replacement.
Poppi has reached an eight point nine million settlement for last year’s lawsuit, and in March was bought by PepsiCo for $1.95 billion. And in February, Coke announced its new prebiotic soda Simply Pop, which will be widely sold soon.
Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Producer; Bob Walko, Editor.
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Sources:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/soda-consumption-by-country
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/soda-do-you-drink-it-every-day
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/probiotics-and-prebiotics#benefits
https://apnews.com/article/poppi-prebiotic-lawsuit-gut-health-30331ef5875e5b82caadef5090ba1195
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/03/17/pepsi-prebiotic-soda-poppi-acquisition/82495383007/
