Poppi Faces Major Lawsuit for Allegedly Misleading Customers About Health Benefits

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If you watched the Super Bowl this year, then you likely saw the colorful advertisements from Poppi encouraging Americans to “drink soda” and claiming that the “future of soda is now.” The brand prides itself on providing functional prebiotic sodas, advertised under the slogan, “Be Gut Happy. Be Gut Healthy.” Yet a recent class-action lawsuit from a consumer is questioning these claims by taking a deeper look at what these sodas actually do for one’s health.

According to the lawsuit, filed by former Poppi customer Kristin Cobbs at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, these drinks only provide 2 grams of prebiotic agave inulin fiber with each beverage. The lawsuit then cites research that states that to experience any of the functional benefits, a consumer would need 7.5 grams of that agave inulin fiber daily for three weeks for it to have any meaningful prebiotic benefit. This would mean drinking at three to four cans of Poppi a day.

Although each beverage only has up to 5 grams of sugar per can, drinking four cans would bring a consumer up to 20 grams of sugar. Although this is still half the amount of a 12-ounce can of Coca Cola, this would still be about 40% of your daily sugar intake recommended by the FDA. Cobbs states in the lawsuit that this amount of sugar would then counteract any other health benefits the soda may have to improve one’s gut health. The lawsuit also claims that the soda can have negative side effects, such as diarrhea, cramping, and liver damage.

On Monday, June 3, the company stated it “[believes] the lawsuit is baseless, and we will vigorously defend these allegations.” However, customers have started catching on to label changes happening in other countries, such as the products sold in Canada that no longer have functional benefit claims advertised on cans.