Food & Wine: New Lawsuit Alleges Poppi Soda’s Health Claims Are Bogus

Here’s what you need to know.

By Stacey Leasca
Published on June 3, 2024

Poppi, the wildly successful prebiotic soda company, is facing a new class-action lawsuit that argues the brand overpromises on its health claims.

On May 29, Kristin Cobbs brought forth the suit, whose lawyers stated in the complaint that the soda lacks any meaningful gut health benefits.

“[Poppi’s] success is largely owed to its ability to preserve the flavor and sweetness of traditional sodas while claiming to be ‘gut healthy’ due to its inclusion of ‘prebiotics’ — a specific type of dietary fiber commonly found in food like bananas and whole grains. However, Defendant’s Poppi soda only contains two grams of prebiotic fiber, an amount too low to cause meaningful gut health benefits for the consumer from just one can. Accordingly, a consumer would need to drink more than four Poppi sodas in a day to realize any potential health benefits from its prebiotic fiber. However, even if a consumer were to do this, Poppi’s high sugar content would offset most, if not all, of these purported gut health benefits,” the complaint reads.

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Maya Feller, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, additionally told Good Morning America, “I wouldn’t say there’s anything negative about it … [it’s] a good alternative to sugar-sweetened beverages, [but] don’t think you’re doing yourself this health favor — because many scientists don’t actually agree with these health claims.” Feller added that consumers should “do your homework” when consuming these products too. “When you’re having a prebiotic soda, you are not actually adding any extreme nutrients to your overall day. If you want to have it, go for it.”

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