Trendy Poppi prebiotic soda not as 'gut healthy' as it claims, lawsuit alleges
FILE - Poppi beverages are displayed during the CLD Pre-Festival House 2023 on April 11, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for CLD PR)
A lawsuit filed against the wildly popular "Shark Tank" phenomenon Poppi prebiotic soda alleges that the drink was not as "gut healthy" as it’s advertised to be.
Plaintiff Kristin Cobbs of San Francisco filed the class action lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of herself and "similarly situated" consumers of Poppi against the parent company, VNGR Beverage LLC, which is based in Austin, Texas.
Poppi has quickly climbed the ranks in the beverage world — capitalizing on relevant marketing and scoring shelf-space at popular retailers like Whole Foods, Target and Costco.
Poppi's "gut healthy" promises are false since the soda "only contains two grams of prebiotic fiber, an amount too low to cause meaningful gut health benefits," the plaintiffs claimed.
"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," the lawsuit claimed.
"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," they added.
Cobbs said that she "reasonably relied" on Poppi's promise of gut healthy soda and decided to pay the "substantial price premium."
"Ms. Cobbs, however, did not receive the benefit of her bargains because the products did not, in fact, contain enough ‘prebiotics’ to achieve any meaningful 'gut health,'" the lawsuit said.
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The lawsuit also cited studies that showed consuming too much agave inulin — the type of prebiotic found in Poppi — can actually have adverse health effects.
"Likewise, Ms. Cobbs was unaware that excessive consumption of the products could negatively impact her health," it added.
The lawsuit "demands" a trial by jury, claiming that Poppi falsely advertised the health benefits of their products.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Poppi for comment.