Prebiotic Poppi soda is being faced with a class-action complaint for not living up to its health claims.
As filed in the Northern District of California, the complaint states that: “Defendant’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 also backs the popularity Poppi, stating that “as of 2024, Poppi’s sales figures have topped $100 million dollars and continue to grow, representing 19 percent in the US market share, even surpassing Coke by 1.5 times.”
“Although Poppi’s rise in popularity can be attributed to its enticing flavors and clever marketing, the core of Poppi’s success is primarily owed to a particular ingredient: agave inulin, the Products’ so-called ‘Prebiotic.’ But, despite Poppi’s ‘prebiotic’ marketing claims, which assure consumers, on the can, that they can ‘Be Gut Happy [and] Be Gut Healthy,’ as one nutritionist bluntly explained: the Products ‘are basically sugared water.'”
The suit seeks $5,000,000 in financial damages.
Poppi addressed the suit in a statement emailed Monday to USA TODAY. “We are proud of the Poppi brand and stand behind our products. We are on a mission to revolutionize soda for the next generation of soda drinkers, and we have diligently innovated to provide a tasting experience that millions of people have come to enjoy,” the statement said. “We believe the lawsuit is baseless, and we will vigorously defend against these allegations.”
